Local musician Shabir, having scored a Kollywood movie, is making inroads into the Tamil film industry.

The singer-songwriter composed and wrote the lyrics of seven songs for the upcoming film Sagaa, Indian filmmaker Murugesh’s directorial debut, which is slated for release in July. He also lent his vocals to four of those songs.

Last month, the winner of the 2005 Vasantham Star singing competition show, together with his family, moved to Chennai to pursue work there. But “I see Chennai as an expansion rather than a migration. I am still rooted in Singapore”, said the 31-year-old, who has three albums under his belt and has acted in, written and performed music for several Vasantham dramas.

He sees this “expansion” as essential for a Singaporean artiste such as himself. “Our population is too small and fragmented. So, if our goal as artistes is to reach more people and share our craft, then, yes, we have to expand,” he said.

“The other point is that the music I make is in Tamil. We have a very small Tamil-speaking population in Singapore — I think it’s below 200,000. Tamil native speakers around the world number at 70 million. That is a market that I want to tap into. Kollywood offers that possibility.”

MAKING THE LEAP

How does a local musician go about building contacts outside of Singapore? Shabir finds it difficult to answer the question. “I dislike chasing people. I prefer to use the time to work on making myself better, which will make my craft better. So I don’t have that huge list of people who I can say I know,” he said. “But I have some very good friends here in Chennai. The award-winning Indian music director (Mohamaad) Ghibran is a friend I have known for a decade. He was studying in LASALLE College Of The Arts and I was pursing my degree with SAE Institute when we met in Singapore. We became close friends and he worked on my debut album (Alaipayuthey). Now, Ghibran is like a mentor and I consult him when I make decisions here.”

Similarly, it was chance that brought him to the attention of Sagaa’s director.

“Murugesh’s brother ran a business in Singapore — that’s how they got to know about my music and the entire family became fans of my first two albums Alaipayuthey and TraffiQ,” Shabir recounted. “Murugesh got in touch with me … He told me, ‘I am more excited to introduce you to the industry as a music director than I am about debuting as a film-maker’. That was when I told myself that I must work on this film.”

The songs composed for the film are musically diverse and include a soulful ballad, a rap metal track and music with elements of Kuthu, an Indian folk genre. Its first music video, titled Sevulu Kizhiyum, was released on May 11 and has since garnered over 20,000 views.

Since then, other offers of work have started coming in, Shabir revealed. “I am in discussion with a few teams and considering my options. I will sign my next film soon but I don’t want to rush to make the decision. Your second film is as important as your first, so I have to weigh in all the pros and cons before I ink on that dotted line.”

Meanwhile, he, his wife and their two daughters, aged seven and eight, are still adjusting to life in Chennai. But Shabir isn’t saying goodbye to Singapore — he still has a hand in the music school and studio Shabir Music Academy, which is currently being run by his team.

“This year will be an orientation for the family. If they settle in well, they will stay with me. Otherwise, there is an option for them to go home at the end of the year. I will continue to operate out of a studio in Chennai and work on films, while Shabir Music Academy operates in Singapore. We also have an audio suite at the Academy that is used to record work in Singapore. I will continue to work on Vasantham soundtracks. I also want to write more independent singles and albums over the years. I just need to manage my time well to simultaneously work on all these,” he said.

SINGAPORE AND BEYOND

Success doesn’t come easily for anyone, but as an outward-looking local artiste, it is a matter of making the most of your resources and blooming where you’re planted, Shabir said.

“Practically speaking, it is indeed a challenge for a Singapore-based artiste to gain big numbers on YouTube and social media. We are terribly outnumbered when you compare with Malaysian, Indonesian, Sri Lankan or Indian fans. That makes it more challenging to push things up that narrow funnel and reach a regional or global audience. It’s like trying to make a river flow upwards,” he acknowledged.

But, he added, the challenge comes with a blessing. “We get access to amazing concerts, showcases and conferences such as Music Matters. Singapore has great libraries, museums, exhibitions and workshops. A Singapore artiste who utilises these resources effectively to hone his or her craft can contribute significantly to the music industry on the global front. And the very nature of being connected to the world serves Singaporean artistes well. We are informed and equipped. That opens up the possibility to change the flow of the river.”

The main principle is simple, he continued. “A general rule of thumb for any music artiste is to find your ‘tribe’. And your tribe can be from any part of the world. With social media, your tribe will find you regardless of where they are. You just need to put good material out constantly and find associations along the way that will allow you to reach a wider audience. The process is incremental and requires patience and persistence.”

The fundamental step, though, is getting past a mental roadblock. “The first challenge is overcoming the so-called ‘Singaporean’ mentality, which wants to be safe and take less risks. A stable career is always favoured; failure is feared. Unplanned, intuitive moves are frowned upon,” Shabir said. “But I read Lee Kuan Yew’s books and he did the exact opposite. His bold actions and appetite for risk speak volumes. That guides me to be robust and gutsy with my decisions. Once that ‘safe’ psychology is shattered, you feel liberated. You know that you have to take the risk and make that leap.”