MUMBAI: ‘Jeevan ko kya naam dun’ is the song collaboration of Joell Mukherjii with the virtuoso, three times national award winning artist Swanand Kirkire – the renowned lyricist, playback singer, writer, and actor –all in one.

The collaboration between Swanand Kirkire and Joell Mukherjii began with the making of the song “Credit de do yaar” which instantly went viral a couple of months ago. The song featured some of the greatest lyricists of the Indian film industry including- Swanand Kirkire, Amitabh Bhattacharya, Varun Grover, Kausar Munir, Shellee and others. The song was composed by the composer duo- Joell and Chinmayi. While making this song, Joell started reading the book “Aap kamayi” which is a compilation of Swanand’s poetry.

Remembering those days Joell said “I was deeply moved by the writing of Swanand Sir and felt inspired to compose some of his poems. This one particular poem deeply connected with me somewhere- “Jeevan ko kya naam dun” and a tune instantly struck me which I recorded immediately and shared with Swanand Sir and he loved it too! He very generously allowed me to create a song based on the poem.

When I produced the song and shared it with him he quite liked it and further added a piece of narration in his own voice that enhanced the beauty of the song ten folds. His voice is so powerful and moving that it has made the song much more special by it’s sheer existence. This is how the song came about and I’m so happy that it is now being launched for all the listeners.”

Adding about the song and it’s theme Joell added-“This song is like a conversation between self and the sub conscious and revolves around the eternal search of finding the meaning of life that we all have. That is why it touched me so much, because the words connect with a global theme. Talking about the song, the veteran lyricist Swanand Kirkire said- “This is a great trend that new composers and singers are trying to rope in meaningful poetry in their songs and creating a bridge between literature and music. It is something that will enrich both literature as well as Independent music. As an artist, it gives me great satisfaction to extend my poetry beyond the film music and give my fans and listeners something so unique to look forward to.”

https://open.spotify.com/track/27d2EeB9ScXlOySDoqWmAv?si=C2qzgfcJSjW97RrDpfPTWA

We are living in very exciting times of the rise of Independent music. The sudden rise in streaming platforms, video destinations and growth in social media- all these trends have created a great eco system which can promote great music and some phenomenal talent has come up because of this. Nowadays, Independent artists are no longer dependent on the record labels to release their music. New streaming platforms have come up for distribution such as Believe digital, Spotify and Gaana. Also, because of social media, artists have found a great way to connect and collaborate with other artists, this has led to so many great collaborations in recent times. Another important development is on the technology front-video making has become a lot simpler. Great videos are being cut out by creative artists at nominal expense and this leads to much better promotion and placement of the song. All in all, its a great time for independent music to take the centre stage in India. Talking about the future plans Joell added – I am planning to release one new song every month as singer – composer. I also plan to collaborate with some fantastic writers and singers over the period of time and I m really looking forward to the same.

Joell Mukherjii is a brilliant composer, he has composed music for hundreds of Ad films over the last couple of years. He is known in the Independent music space as a multi instrumentalist and a versatile singer composer-producer. As an independent artist, Joell has released various songs as singles in collaboration with some other great artists. Hailing from a musical family in Kolkata, Joell has previously produced music for some of the finest composers such as Pritam, Amit Trivedi, Mithun and Jeet Ganguly. After few years of working as a producer, Joell decided work independently as a composer.