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FOR THE LOVE OF METAL

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fwd life The down treading main image

Popular Kerala-based Indian metal band ‘The Down Troddence’ tells us what drives their music and the manifestation of a rich history in its root

Words by Likhitha P Nair    Photographs by The Down Troddence

In 1968, a group of men from England’s West Midlands moulded a form of music that was strangely similar to the tumult from steel mills in their hometown. Tonny Iommi’s roaring guitar and Ozzy Osbourne’s rebellious vocals were just a few of the many reasons why Black Sabbath became the light at the end of the tunnel for many. While Metal was going through the metamorphosis that any style of art is destined to, with Deep Purple, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Pantera and many others distorting its style and spirit, the world was adapting to it. Around the same time, miles away, here is the God’s own country, Naxalites were ruffling the social calm of Kerala, as it inhaled a new political set-up; rights for all, and freedom for all.

When I watched The Down Troddence live few years back in Chennai, I remember feeling captivated and connected to their music. The Kannur-based band has very deep ties to a culture, that is cult to many. In conversation with vocalist Munz, Guitarists Varun Raj and Advaith and Bassist Nezer regarding the origin of the band that portrays itself to be ‘voice of the oppressed’, came the surreal revelation that their music was largely inspired by a dark Malayali subculture.

BEING THE DOWNTRODDEN

fwd life The down treading Being The Downtrodden

The band was founded in 2008 in Kannur district, north of Kerala, by group of teenagers who went searching for music that enthralled listeners during a time of social and political distress.

Nezer: Metal happened to me quite surprisingly, a friend gave it to me in exchange for big bubblegum tattoos (laughs). But the pull towards it, I believe had a lot to do with the atrocities we saw as children. We were struggling to articulate those.

Advait: Many living among us were poor, not in terms of money, but social awakening.

Munz: While in school I used to try finding someone who would help me download music. I remember the first time I was introduced to Metallica. It changed my life. I think the difference was that our generation had no facilities that people have today. Without phones and the internet, we had time to look around and witness what is happening around the world. That had clear impressions on the music we made later.

THROUGH THE EYES OF POTTAN AND NAGAVALLI

fwd life The down treading Nagavalli

The fury and savagery of ‘theyyam’, a traditional ritual art form of worship is well-known to Kerala. The music video ‘Nagavalli’ by TDT speaks about the popular legend of a dancer who haunts her jealous master for slaying her over revenge for fancying another man. ‘Shiva’ on the other hand is the story of ‘pottan’ or ‘pottan theyyam’, the first downtrodden race to revolt the system of oppression.

Varun: Though Nagavalli was originally made as a soundtrack for a movie, it never worked out. When we discussed it further, we all coincidentally related to the tale of an opressed dancer.

Nezer: Cult art forms of Kerala are all dark and rebellious. Art used to be a tool for conveying stories and messages before modern times started celebrating its entertainment value. I think metal, or any kind of liberating art form, revolves around the same ideology.

Munz: These similarities or adaptations were not meant to patronise an audience. North-Kerala has a history that has seen dark times and blood spill. We empathised with a lot of those concepts. Like the way, our society treated the ‘underprivileged’, or how women were only seen as “articles of possession”.

French author Andre Maurois once wrote that art is an effort to create, beyond the real world, a more humane world. It sometimes carves into itself and grows a new seed. As for The Down Troddence, Nezer has the right words to divulge this,“TDT has a sound. And that will stay.”

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Ashwin Bhaskar I Making Waves In The K-pop Universe

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The limelight is nothing new to the 27 year old Singer-Songwriter Malappuram native, Ashwin Bhaskar who went crazy viral last year for his insane dialogue remix – Perfect Ok. He is back and is making waves in the world acclaimed K-pop music universe as well.

Ashwin has released a cover collaboration of the Korean hit single Tattoo with the original singer herself – AleXa and is racking up raging views. The music video currently Trending #24 on YouTube Music is a huge shoutout to all the K-pop die hard fans right here in Kerala and we couldn’t be prouder!

Watch it here:

Checkout his music on Spotify and his latest single Story In A Nutshell.

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The Upcoming and Released Album Calendar

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It’s nearly impossible to keep up of everything that’s coming out each year, with more music being released every year. The options are seemingly unlimited, ranging from pop to hip-hop to alternative to K-pop to country, not to mention vinyl, re-releases, and collectible editions.

Check out these upcoming and released Albums-

Sept 3-

Drake, Certified Lover boy

Sept 10-

Diana Rose, Thank You

September 17-

Daughtery, Dearly Beloved

September 24-

Diddy, Off the grid Vol 1

October 1 –

Lady Gaga and Tony Bennet, Love for sale

October 8-

Lala Lala, I Want the Door to Open

 

Words by: Malavika Venugopalan

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The Musical Journey of Adheef Muhamed

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The 15-year-old boy, who won first in Urdu recitation at the 47th Kerala State Kalolsavam from Trivandrum, is now waiting for his upcoming Tamil movie track release, mesmerizing many.

Playback singer, Adheef Muhamed with his new release ‘Vidhooram’, found his passion at a very tender age through various school curricular programs like singing Mappila pattu and Urdu recitations. Later the baby steps he took as part of having fun during school days, turned to a passion driven career with his magical voice behind many songs mumbling on many lips.

Adheef came into limelight with his viral cover of ‘Mukkathe Penne’ which was released in the year 2014. The friendship bond between the friends and culmination of talents has made the cover happen along with the band ‘Elayappam’ featuring Nipin, Vishnu, Ebi, Sanu, Ramkumar. ‘Pazhamthamizh paattu’ was the first cover from the band, with an entirely different mood with Arabic arrangement. Their cover songs were more captivating to the audience during that time, and that paved the way for many other opportunities for them.

“During break times, we used to go to a nearby tea-shop to enjoy our tea break in between the jamming sessions along with discussions, and ‘Elayappam’ was the snack we all used to order unanimously which later became the name of our band. It was also a realization of how food and music were connected,” he said, reminiscing the initial days.

Adheef being the first person to suggest this name for the band had a genuine connection to the title, as it was closely knitted to their friendship and life.

His last independent work named ‘Goodman’ was an experimental track which was released before the pandemic as a visual treat. He gives the credit to the amazing crew which consisted of the lyricist Vinayak Sasikumar, DOP Venu Sasidharan Lekha and the wavelength they have in terms of unique output of the track.

Talking about his works he says “The future is all about independent music, which I knew right from the beginning, and I was always interested in collaborating with different talents and that’s how the beginning of my official YouTube channel happened. ‘Muthu Nava Ratnam’ is a song which is closely gelled with my family since it was the song my mother used to sing for me to sleep. And I always wanted to do a cover version of the song as it’s very much relatable to us”.

“I don’t compromise on video as I believe it’s an important element in every track of mine and I give 50-50 efforts to both audio and video. I strongly believe that the visual element was one of the main reasons the song has got its reach, although the song itself has its essence of magic no matter what the visual was.” he added.

‘Maraigirai’, a Tamil track released in the year 2019, is a familiar track with 12 million views in YouTube trending even now with a huge fan base. When asked about the success of the song Adheef says.

“For me success is the impact the songs have on people who listen to them. I happened to talk to a person who was a survivor in life, who told me once that ‘Maraigirai’ helped him throughout his healing process which made me happy, and I think responses like these are the true definition of success for me.”

He says, the places or people surrounding him were not into a professional music career and he is grateful to himself and to the evolving process along with the band, in trying out new things and this drive was the push for stepping onto the next opportunity.

“I never dreamed about becoming a playback singer and I’m very content with whatever I have right now and I’m grateful for all these opportunities I got, and the path I have come across.

I have seen both the phases of Malayalam cinema, where becoming a playback singer was a difficult opportunity, and the current scenario where many talents are finding opportunities in movies and they are growing through different digital platforms in the social media.”

Adheef has sung in many different languages. “The pulse of Malayali audiences are different from other industries in terms of acceptance” he remarks.

The fast phase of the growing Malayalam music industry with upcoming talents can be seen everyday with many drastic changes. As time goes by, I think there might not be typical song sequences in the Malayalam movies. As a drift comes in the making of the movie the growth of independent music can also be seen evidently” he says.

Sharing about ‘Vidhooram’ and its happiness

 

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A post shared by Adheef Muhamed (@adheef_muhamed)

“This is the first time I’m approaching something like this track which is very much ambient, and I’m experimenting with a low base tone in my singing. I’m getting many positive responses for this track” he said while talking about his recently released Independent track ‘Vidhooram’ by Ryan Biju Sam and mixed by Abin Paul.

Out of the box thinking and understanding the pulse of the audience is what makes Adheef Muhamed different, and drives him to go ahead with his passion.

Check out his new Tamil track from the movie ‘Lift’ named ‘Hey Bro’ starring Kavin and Amrita Iyer, Music by Britto Micheal.

Words by: Anjali Ram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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