In an exclusive chat with The Pioneer, young music composer Venkatesh Vuppala, whose recent single Nuvve Oka Sainyam was released, making his debut as a singer, gets candid about his inclination towards music, his foray into the music industry, his latest song, and more.
Amartya Smaran
Venkatesh Vuppala is a young independent music composer from the city. His latest single Nuvve Oka Sainyam was released on Aditya Music India YouTube channel on March 13. The talented composer tried his hands at singing for the first time ever with Nuvve Oka Sainyam. Venkatesh falls under the category of artists who have made the most of the internet. He has gone out of his way to learn the art and craft of music composition with the resources that were within his reach.
The musician’s inclination towards music began when he was child. His father would teach him classical songs and encourage him to learn the piano. However, Venkatesh always had a keen interest in learning guitar but he never got the opportunity to learn the instrument.
Speaking of his foray into the music industry, he shared, “In 2013, I joined Lovely Professional University(LPU) in Punjab to pursue B.Tech. It was a great place to explore and there I found a guitar and started with the Pani Da song(Vicky Donor). I learnt the basics of guitar in 15 days. I had plans to start a band and we started the band as well. Soon after we started the competition, we had a competition within a month. Luckily, we won the competition. Whenever I’d feel like playing, I’d play for five to six hours together at a stretch.”
It was in 2015 that he first realised that it was about time to do something original. Social media was booming with several other young musicians uploading covers on YouTube and this encouraged Venkatesh to explore the independent scene further. “I learnt how to use the music software with the help of YouTube videos and no one ever taught me anything.”
“The song is from my debut movie called Achiever,” said Venkatesh Vuppala before adding more about Nuvve Oka Sainyam. “The movie’s about three kids trying to save this school and country from terrorist attacks. It’s a patriotic song and we had a time frame to create the song in six hours and we made this song within six hours. That’s my personal record. Right from the lyrics to tune to mixing, we wrapped up everything in just six hours.”
Our style sets us apart and each artist is known for his/her unique style. It is extremely important to find your own voice in a saturated market. We asked the composer as to what he’d want to be remembered for and he replied, “I have already established my style in the independent and in the Telugu industry. I don’t want to settle for a routine style. I have my USB signature style where I mix Indian and Western. I combine multiple genres in a single song. I also bring rock to Indian fusion. That way, I already have a name. My motto is to concentrate on independent music as well as other kinds of music. Independent music for me comes first and then comes everything.”
The up and coming composer signed up for two movies and a web series. He didn’t reveal the names of the projects as there’s an embargo on them at the moment. He ended on high note by saying, “Monthly once, I work on independent music and we are in talks with Sony South as well. Being an independent artist, it’s never easy to get into the independent space. A special shout out to my buddy, Sumanth Borra. We are two passionate guys pushing each other towards good things. We want to be remembered as a great team by the world outside.”
While Venkatesh gives a special shout out to his pal Sumanth Borra, we also connected with the artist, who shares some more dets about the song. “Nuvve Oka Sainyam was premiered at the Prasad Labs, which was graced by Bigg Boss fame Kaushal and tourism chairman Srinivasa Gupta, senior producer Ram Satyanarayana garu. Before coming to the US, we had completed working on the song. The music and the BGM was done by Venkatesh Vupalla, and Tallada Sai Krishna has directed the film. We’ve known each other for a long time, and one day he just called and asked me to compose and sing the song along with Venkatesh. He sent us the main lyrics which was penned by Hanumadri Srikanth, and we improvised it a little. I had sung the lead of the song, while Venkatesh has done the chorus. This has been by-far the fastest composition to date, as we had just sat with this tune for 2 hours, and completed the final song within 6 hours.”
