The Voice — Season 2 winner Farhan Sabir is going places. The 20-year-old singer has launched his debut single — Allah Hu. The sufi romantic single was launched by Universal Music and Farhan says that the highlights of the song are the lyrics along with the music. “The lyrics are beautiful. The song has got various layers and in a way connected to my life,” he says, adding that the song spreads the message of hope and belief. Allah Hu is an unconventional sufi qawali with a distinct tune and lyrics. The song is composed by playback singer and composer Shaan.
He adds that the moment he heard the lyrics, he instantly got connected because sufi is his favourite genre. “I love sufi-based songs because I have trained in this style. I realised that I can use my learnings to enhance the song, although I haven’t tried to modify the song too much. At the end of the day, it should connect with the public and they should like it,” he says.
Farhan, who won The Voice 2 under his mentor Shaan, says that the music reality show has changed his life. “I have learnt a lot from the show. People appreciate my singing. Also, winning the show has put a huge responsibility on me and the expectations from my family and people from my city (New Delhi) has gone up. I do realise that there’s a lot more hard work and struggle left, but I am ready for it. My family is also into music as my father is a tabla player and grandfather is into classical music. In fact, I have learnt to play the tabla from my father. My family wanted me to learn classical music and get into singing.”
The singer dreams of getting into Bollywood playback singing and says that he wants to sing for Salman Khan. “I want to create my own identity in Bollywood as a playback singer and I am working hard towards it, says Farhan, who has been trained in Indian classical music since an early age. He considers Ustad Rashid Khan and Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan as his biggest inspirations.
But how is he working on his voice to match the mature actors in the industry? “I realise that I need a certain maturity in my voice and I am working on it. You need a certain texture and tone when singing in films. That said, my voice is getting mature and improving over time,” he says.
Farhan, who is currently training in Western music, says that he is also trying a different genre of music because he doesn’t want to get stuck to a particular genre. He says, “My main motto is to do good work and people should be proud of me. My father keeps telling me, ‘You shouldn’t be known as my son but I should be known as your father’.”
Allah Hu is available across all digital platforms.
