Hesham Abdul Wahab : We Are Living in a Beautiful Era of Music

For composer Hesham Abdul Wahab, music begins with feeling and stays rooted in it. Drawing from personal experiences and a borderless soundscape, he speaks about melody, memory and staying true to his voice.

"We are living in a beautiful era of all kinds of music… I just try to be a better version of myself," he says in this exclusive interview with Deccan Chronicle after his performance at VNRVJIET in Hyderabad.

Excerpts

Your music often feels deeply nostalgic. What personal memories do you draw from while composing?

Everything. Your personal life, sorrow, pain, happiness, celebration. Anything that you come across in life, I immediately invest that in my music. The album so far that I have done is an example for that. If you feel something that the song evokes, that’s the same feeling that I had when I composed.

After the success of ‘Hridayam’, did your approach to melody change or evolve in any way?

Whatever I have evolved into will reflect in the latest film that was announced with Shouryuv.

You have balanced Malayalam and Telugu industries seamlessly. Do you compose differently for each audience?

If I had composed differently for the audience, I don’t think I would survive more than one Telugu film. I only survive because I believe that music has no language. I believe in that one rule, that’s the universal law and I compose based on that. But I only make sure that the lyrics make a point.

Songs from ‘Hi Nanna’ and ‘Khushi’ are very emotion driven. How do you ensure they connect instantly with listeners?

That depends on the film. So, I compose watching the film, knowing more about the film and how the director inspires me. And I give my best to the director. Then it’s the director’s duty to print that music onto the film. So, for example, ‘Adigaa’ is one of the most celebrated songs of Karthik. The director didn’t even tell me when he placed the song in the film. He showed it to me in the final edit. And I saw it and I cried. And yes, the audience cried. So, this is what the director wanted.

In an era of fast viral music, you stay rooted in melody. Do you ever feel pressured to follow trends?

No. I strongly believe the era we are living in is a beautiful era of all kinds of music. I think when you open Instagram, you see Afro music, a lot of artists performing. When did we actually hear it? We heard it now. So, we are actually living in a good time where we are exposed to all kinds of music. We have Russian music, Japanese music, and everything we ever wanted to hear. We have artists, singers or musicians here who are trying a lot of different genres. So, I think we are living in a good space here. I am content with whatever response we get for our music. And I just try to be a better version of myself. That’s all.

So, there is no pressure there then?

We can’t work with pressure, let alone compose.

How did you plan for your performance at VNRVJIET? And how different is that energy from composing in the studio?

Performing live is definitely going to be a result of how the audience responds to my music. It all depends on how people respond to the set list. That will be an example of how much sound work I have done.