Who is Resh?

SINGAPORE — Singapore musicians have experienced this before, but it seems our northern neighbours are just as vulnerable to the rigours of public recognition — or lack thereof.

Take Malaysian musician Resh. When you look up his music videos on the Internet, you will likely see comments that run along the lines of, “Wow, this came from a Malaysian?” It makes us wonder if the award-winning artiste feels exhilarated and encouraged by the response or if he is just very slightly disappointed by the perception of Malaysian music.

“Facts are facts, I don’t blame them for saying that,” Resh said in an interview during a promotional tour to plug his new EP Who Am I.

The title might be an apt response to those comments, but he takes it all with a glass-half-full attitude.

“When you create a scenario such as this, then you create the possibility which, in their minds, was never possible, and that is fascinating,” said the singer who debuted in 2003 with his album Monumental. “Today, they can say that if Resh did it, if Yuna did it, then we can do it. That is the spark and the excitement that the Malaysian crowd is enjoying at the moment.”

Resh is, of course, referring to his attempts to break into the international market, after a thorough rebranding earlier this year. The 39-year-old, whose full name is Hiresh Haridas, decided to shortened his previous stage name, Reshmonu to only “Resh”.

He didn’t just revamp his name. He also got rid of his cornrow hairdo, which he had kept for the past eight years — a nerve-wrecking experience, he said. He then took eight new songs that he had recorded with Jim Beanz from Sunset Entertainment Group (who is known for his work on hit American television series Empire), and signed a deal with Universal Music Singapore.

“Twelve years ago, it was like painting a blank canvas. Now, it is like painting a canvas that is not blank any more because there are so many trends out there,” he said about his musical journey. “You are just caught up in all these things and you are trying to (be original) and you go, ‘How original can you get today?’

“There are only so many chords in a song, and they have all been used to death. There are only so many variations and how people sing it differently. Things were a lot easier 12 years ago, only because the soundscape is so huge now.”

Still, it seems Resh’s rebranding is serving him well. His new single Half The Man has been hitting the charts in Malaysia and the United States, and Resh hopes to be able to go on tour around the region soon.

“We only just released our video (for Half The Man) two or three weeks ago,” said Resh. “It’s just passed 37,000 views, which, if you look at the international music plane, is not that much. But if you look at it from a Malaysian standpoint, it’s really moving. The way the views are going, it’s much more than any one of my videos have done before.”

He continued: “Call it far-fetched, but I want to tell people it is possible for an Asian to get out there — not just Koreans, but South-east Asians — to get out there and get on the charts.

“It’s possible if you tackle it the right way.”

Resh’s latest EP Who Am I is now available for sale on iTunes.