Vivek Verma: Indie music has broken B’wood barrier

Singer, composer and musician Vivek Verma feels that aiming solely for Bollywood does act as a barrier for any young talent, instead in the beginning one should focus more on independent music.

“In the pandemic when less films are bring made and more films are releasing on OTT, we hardly have any songs, so scenario of independent music is very bright. It has broken the Bollywood barrier,” says the singer who has been part of hit tracks composed by Himesh Reshammiya.

Currently, staying with parents in Gautam Buddh Nagar (UP), he is working on his next Indie-track. “I have released two independent songs as a singer-composer on my YT channel while two have released on new labels. All of them have organically garnered 250-300K views each, which is a big confidence booster for me. Himeshji too has promised me a song on his composition,” he said.

Vivek has also been credited as a music producer or musician for hit songs like Prem Ratan Dhan Payo, Aap ka Mausiiquii, Teraa Suroor and horror movie Saansein — all with Himesh.

“See, I am a musician first and a trained sound engineer. So, I use best of my skills in all the departments be it singing, composing, playing instrument or music production. Every project is a learning experience for me,” he said.

Hailing from Kolkata, Vivek also learnt Beneras gharana music under guru-shishya parampara. “First, two years in my hometown and then in Beneras I learnt classical music under Ganesh Prasad Mishra, disciple and son of veteran ‘thumri samrat’ Mahadev Prasad Mishra. My other gurus were Anil Acharya and Sanjeev Mukherjee. I have also trained in Western music.”

After Class 12, he got an opportunity to sing with singer Shaan at a show in Pune. “I went for 2-4 days but did not return for 4 years. My first work as a music composer was a Sufi album which had legendary Hariharan and Aman Trikha as singer. Then, I met Himeshji through his company’s CEO Andy (Singh) bhaiya and since then I am working with him.”

Lastly sharing what inspired him he said, “Once in school I was rejected for a competition, I was in class VI then. It was then I realised that I need to learn, and that continues till date.”