Sometime around 2017, when he was in college in his hometown Thanjavur, Kaber Vasuki uploaded his first song on YouTube from a browsing centre.
“The video just had a blank screen with the title of the song,” recalls the 33-year-old singer-songwriter, who is now based in Canada. Kaber, eager to share his music with the world, waited to see the views trickling in. “There was 10, 20, and it went up gradually,” he says, recalling the first comment from a Tamilian from Australia. “He said ‘super-a irukku’.”
Kaber’s latest independent single ‘Poi’ has garnered over 64,000 views and counting, since its launch a month ago.
The Tamil song for KYNrecords, was written and composed by Kaber, and features a video that he directed. The song’s mood is dark, and the video starts off with a man tormented by insomnia. The story then follows his experiments with a pill manufactured by a bio-hack company that promises sound sleep to the user, with the bonus of one’s deepest desires appearing in one’s dreams. ‘Poi’ is trippy in both imagery and sound, which Kaber says, opened him up to the idea of visual storytelling. “My next independent venture too will combine music and visual storytelling,” he adds.
Kaber, who is also a Tamil lyricist, wrote the hugely popular ‘Killer Killer’ for the Dhanush-starrer Captain Miller. The song was released a few weeks ago on YouTube. “I have done more work for Captain Miller, and talks are on for other projects,” adds Kaber, who has also composed film music. Notable among his work is Halitha Shameem’s 2021 film Aelay.
“Right now, I see myself in an intermediate space between film and independent music,” he says, adding that over the last three years, more people have discovered his music. Ask him which of the two he identifies himself with, Kaber says he prefers to simply do his work and not worry about choosing one over the other. I want to create music that connects with people emotionally; that stirs something in them even after 10 years.”
Kaber’s songs are deep and introspective, and he says he tends to get into that zone sometimes. “Usually, I am a regular guy,” he laughs. He is a fan of lyricist Na Muthukumar, and enjoys songs written by Vaali, Kannadasan, and Pattukottai Kalyana Sundaram. For someone who has a way with words, it is ironic that Kaber barely passed his Class X Tamil Board exam. “My mother distributed sweets to my neighbours when she heard that I had passed,” he laughs.
The track ‘Poi’ is available on YouTube.
