My name is Kaber Vasuki
I'm Tenma
We are from Kaber+Tenma
and Kurangan
I first came to Chennai in 2010
I was a solo performer for 4-5 years
In 2014, I wanted to put my songs
together in an album and was looking for a music producer
That album, Azhagu Puratchi, was crowdfunded...
That's when I first met Tenma. We then began working on the album.
I have been making music since I was a young kid.
I was looking for the right person to collaborate with
I was going through highs and lows in my life
I was in a funk
So shows... I never liked heading out much...
I went to the [inaudible] show. At that time I did not know Kaber.
I didn't know the event was for the crowdfunding.
I heard one of his songs there...and I was really impressed with one of his lines...
in the song "Nee Thaane". So I messaged him and said
and said "If you are looking for somebody, let me know, give me a call..."
So then we started off. We started working
The first album was called Azhagu Puratchi
It was released in 2014. This song is from that album...
Actually at first...
We had planned to have 7 songs on that album
Yeah, we planned for 7 songs on Azaghu Puratchi
Azhagu Puratch, when it came together, had 3 different drafts
It's almost like we did 3 different albums...
...before we got to the final version...
before we even went for mixing, so, I think...
Songs like Pachai Perunthu became completely different. Very different.
Because our album was Tamil pop and electronica. We had no idea where to take it.
We did not have a reference point... so where to take it?
We had to treat each song completely differently. That's when it segued into...
Kurangan as well, the way we treat songs...
I think that was a 3-4 month period... We just shut ourselves into a room
and wrote 6 songs. Nobody else was there, no disturbances.
So right off the bat, I did not know what he was about. He did not get what I was saying...
The first two weeks were like that, a testing period...
After that, we started to sync.
It took those two weeks to become friends
to where we could openly talk about ...
Because when we released Chennai Paadal,
It was a 49 second song!
Radio singles need to be 3:30. Everybody tries to compress to 3:30..
And here we were with a 49 second song!
I didn't know what to do with it...
So I think he went... He was like "Give me ten minutes, I will write one second verse and come..."
And then he came back with what he wrote in ten minutes and that's what went into the album...
It was..on the fly? Actually now it is pretty much...
2 years of working together, including Kurangan and Kaber+Tenma songs..
Now we can write songs in a couple of hours, we have got that kind of speed
I hope we are not blowing our own trumpets... but that's how we work.
Actually my favorite song on that album...
...when I realized that Tenma knows a lot of stuff when working on a song called Pachai Perunthu.
We ran through 2 versions and we started the 3rd version... at that time...
we were working on it for about 3-4 days
I kept hearing the song but did not get what it was about
I then told Tenma that "I heard a song of Donovan and
got inspired by it. Tenma came by the next morning
I hadn't slept the previous night. So I fell asleep in the studio
Tenma woke me up after 2-3 hours. He said "Listen to this..." and played the track
He had taken the song to a whole new level. That version was the one that made the album.
It's almost, like, the song that's closest to our heart...
But we've spoken a lot about Azhagu Puratchi.
So no more songs from that album. But I think Kurangan is more of a rock sound so that is a separate entity
But we've worked on many songs apart from Black Sheep or Poramboke...
we have lots of songs in our library and we will be playing one of those now...
Because there was 1 year between Azhagu Puratchi's release and forming Kurangan.
We wrote a lot of songs then that nobody heard
We didn't have the money... we only had the talent.
We didn't know what to do. So we decided to exploit our own talent..
So...this is actually quite an interesting song, the way it's produced...
We'll play the mellowed down version now.
The acoustic, stripped down version.
This song is called David Foster Wallace.
David Foster Wallace? That writer? Is this about that guy or something else?
It's not about him. I haven't read all of his work
But there was one speech that he gave that I really liked.
I tried to translate it but then decided to make a song out of it.
Lets go for it?
Obviously, whatever happened with Azhagu Puratchi, don't let it happen to this song...
Because that album took a year to get done and everybody asked "Who are these guys?"
In the same way do you think there will be an Azhagu Puratchi 2?
We could... no label is going to ask us to record it... we could make it on our own...
It will be an experimental album and sound so...
We'd love for you to fund it...
This is actually... we performed this more with Kurangan.
Shall we talk about Kurangan?
Kurangan is...I think you were trying to form a band for a while...
I was trying to form a band for a long time
I came to Chennai in 2010 to start a rock band...
...perform some songs, and become a superstar in 2 years...
Only after I arrived, I realized that even surviving is a big deal...
Let me first find a job to pay the bills.
Since 2010 I had played with over half the musicians in Chennai
I synced with some people but not with others
Some people could not play due to time constraints
but nobody had the same belief in my songs as I did
Then after making the album, I asked Tenma..
"Do you want to start a band?" What did you say then?
I had stopped playing in bands for 4 years by then
because I was tired and frustrated
with the egos and tensions in the band
I simply had had enough
I was playing for almost 12 years with bands. It was quite a torturous experience.
And then...in most of the bands I was trying to push songwriting...
..work on songs... none of that happened...
So I said enough. I said I would rather stick to the studio...
So 4 years went by and then Kaber asked me...
I first said no, I won't play in a band.
I think you asked me about it in 2014...
By the time we finished Azhagu Puratchi, I knew that Tenma gets it. He understands what I'm trying to say...
We are on the same wavelength. He would be good to work with. So I asked him,
He said he was not interested, that "I don't play for bands..."
Ok, I thought "If you don't want to, then you don't want to..."
I thought I would find some else so I once again did the rounds...
I asked everybody and then came back to Tenma one day and kept asking him to form a band
Then [inaudible] Music happened in early 2015. I was performing there as a solo artist.
He was there when I was performing my act.
He saw me perform and decided that it was worth getting the band together...
What was going through your mind at that time?
Actually, you were performing but... that edge... that something you needed to take the song forward...
like... Samudhayam Oru Maayam, Suthanthiram Oru Dabba needed that edge...
so I was, like, okay, fine...he is a good frontman. He is doing this alone but he is a good frontman
so I thought lets form a band for the last time...
beyond this, I won't form a band again. So I told him if we form a band, I'll take care of who to call
That's when we got Krishna (Kurangan's drummer) on board.
He was playing with me during the Blind Image days.
and then Sahib (Kurangan's guitarist)... we auditioned for Sahib.
We auditioned for guitarists
And went through a lot of guitarists
3-4 people we would have changed...
Yeah, but Sahib finally got on board... Sahib Singh
So it's fun to have a... he understands the songs.
He actually brings so much emotion to each song. And both of them actually.
Kurangan as such is an idea. So lots of people have asked us what is Kaber+Tenma, what is Kurangan?
Kurangan is more like an idea which we are trying to sell. The band is just being an excuse...
I think the major thing is that Kurangan is a reflection of our values and principles, what we stand for.
It's not just our perspective, it's that of our generation. Many people feel like we do.
But there aren't that many songs written for them. There is no public art for them.
So we wanted to give them exactly that without any commercial distractions. That's how Kurangan was born
But we also had bills to pay. That's where Kaber+Tenma comes in.
Kaber+Tenma pays for Kurangan. That is our working cycle.
As of now, touch wood, everything is going well.
Thanks to the loyal fans and following we have...
who have actually motivated us through different ways...
Yes, actually every time we find a new listener who understands us, what we are trying to do...
We don't know how it normally happens but many
of our fans are online, from Sri Lanka, Australia, from all over
One fan has been with us from 2009... when I first recorded and put a song out on YouTube...
so they are all... what to say...
...very nice people... our fans are very helpful...
The fans have funded all our recording...
So that's why we don't sell it at all. It's for free
It's free to stream, free to download
I think through the course of this time, you also made me a singer.
I was going through severe insecurities and thought I should never hold a mic.
Many people told said "Your voice sounds bad..." and similar things...
They'll keep saying stuff like this all the time...
They said that to me as well...
When I'd sing in the shower at the college hostel,
they'd pour water on me, but...
But I've had quite a few humiliating experiences on stage. So I was sort of.. went into my shell...
that I should not sing. Then he came up with a couple of songs and said...
"See, these songs are there. Whichever you feel like you can sing,  you sing."
Then we were filtering through the songs and one of the songs was Naan Oru Madayanadi.
I think it was half written and he said "Do you like this song?" I said "Yeah".
"Why don't you sing it?"  It was almost like "Yeah, you have to sing it."
And then I said "Okay, give me a couple of weeks." I had to mentally prepare myself and
I got the song and now I am singing that song for Kurangan live.
Its mass. There's a rap song as well but no rap today. Today's just about singing.
This is actually a soup song.
Actually Kurangan was releasing singles till now.
We've released Manitha Subhavam. It got a great response.
Vasanam had an even better response. Next was Rasathi. That's a big crowd favorite.
Then Rendu Paerum... which is not a crowd favorite...
Actually is a very...a niche crowd likes it...
We'll be releasing a couple of music videos..
Rasathi and Manitha Subhavam.. and more...
so please stay tuned... check out our Facebook page, SoundCloud, we are on YouTube...
You can catch us anywhere, you can send us a message, we are quite responsive.
You can send us cash to make an album... we're quite responsive about that...
We will be releasing our debut album... the name is still...
It's probably going to be a self titled album, Kurangan.
We went through 2-3 names and then decided on calling it Kurangan.
It will have about 6 songs
All these songs are crowd favorites when we play live...
Suthanthiram Oru Dabba, Arasan Enbavan,
Samudhayam Oru Maayam, and a couple you haven't heard yet...
Preview? We've seen you at our shows... you know the songs...
We have released 2 of those songs till now. One is Manitha Subhavam, and Vasanam.
Kurangan has released two songs, both got a great response.
We have two other songs that form our first 4 singles.
Rasathi and Rendu Paerum. Rasathi is a crowd favorite. After this, we are releasing two music videos as well.
After the videos, we will release our self titled debut album. The name is still in the works... Its yet to be named
It will have the songs that our audiences really like.
Suthanthiram Oru Dabba, Samuthayam Oru Mayam, Arasan Enbavan, Rockstar,
So please follow us on our page on Facebook and SoundCloud, and YouTube
You'll see our live videos, our infamous Oklahoma song...
Any other song?
Let's sing one last one?
Lets play one of our "hit" songs...
One of our blockbusters... lets do Black Sheep?
Okay, Black Sheep it is...
