Distinguished for its vibrancy and traditional showcases, the Navratri week brings a reason to rejoice, a reason to celebrate and let oneself loose, especially to the tunes of energetic Garba songs. While there are many artistes who have launched new songs this year to mark this festive occasion, the Indian musical duo Meet Bros, have gone above and beyond and collaborated with Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a rather energetic track titled Maadi.
The track was launched by the brothers Manmeet Singh and Harmeet Singh during the India Vs Pakistan World Cup match held in Ahmedabad. While the brothers helm the song as composers, the lyrics have been penned by the Indian Prime Minister and Divya Kumar lends the vocals.
As devotees across the country gear up to perform Garba all night long to express their devotion towards Goddess Shakti, we chat with the Meet Bros about this track, what emotions it intends to evoke and their experience working with the Indian PM.
Read Excerpts:
How was your experience working with the Indian Prime Minister?
Harmeet: Very surreal and very overwhelming. He is very humble and respectable. There are so many Gujrati composers in the country and the PMO reached out to us. We are Punjabi boys and he wanted us to create a tune for the track. That speaks volumes about his personality. It is an amazing feeling that everybody gets an opportunity to perform and showcase their talent in the country.
What were the biggest challenges that you had to overcome?
Harmeet: The biggest challenge was to create this track in four hours because they called us up in the afternoon around 2:30 and said that they wanted the tune by 7 pm. But we trusted our speed. For instance, the song Cham Cham in Baaghi was created in less than a minute.
Manmeet: Even Baby Doll we created in two and a half minutes. Honestly, projects come to us like this or they do not come at all. For this track, the more we saw the lyrics, we sat on it and the tune just started flowing in and within half an hour we had the tune of the entire song.
What does the vibrant and energetic festival of Navratri mean to you two?
Manmeet: We did a nine-day Navratri performance in Bhuj in the initial years of our careers and that's the same year when Baby Doll came to us. I think it was a gift of God and Maata. The same year, I also got married to a Gujarati from Ahmedabad so I am very close to this culture and I love the way they are and their approach towards life.
As composers, how do you otherwise pick the songs you wish to work on? What are some key elements that you look for in a track?
Manmeet: We are very clear about the thing that our songs need to be very simple because we want them to be understood and liked by the majority of the people. Basically, it should not be a complicated melody.
Harmeet: Also, it has to be a happy song. We try to keep it light and peppy and create music which can make someone smile. And of course, it has to be catchy.
Tell us a little about your upcoming projects. What can your audience look forward to?
Harmeet: We have created an A cappella track for Welcome Back. This is one of the first times in the history of Bollywood that a film has explored the format.
Manmeet: We also have two very big series coming on MB Music - our channel. One of the series will feature a typical 90's style of music and the other one called 'White Room' will have artistes like Javed Ali, Papon, Ankit Tiwari, Neha Bhasin and Khushboo Garewal.
Maadi is streaming on all audio platforms.
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