Bengaluru: 21-year-old Benglauian Music producer Saahil Karmally’s ‘Habibi’ (Arabic for “My Love”) has just been released and is all set to make waves in the international music market. The song has never been more apt for the times. It was five to six months in the making and was conceived by Saahil before the onset of the COVID 19 pandemic, but its release has coincided with the pandemic. Saahil told Newskarnataka.com, that there is no better time to release the song. The world needs love and unity now more than ever.
Habibi is a tri-lingual music track that is sung in English, Arabic, and Hindi, and through this song, Saahil hopes to unite people across cultures. Dubai-based Hatem Mukattash, an engineer by day and an Arabic rapper by night, and London’s Trinity College product Ritvika Sunku have sung the Arabic and Hindi parts of the track giving it a truly universal appeal. The English parts are brilliantly rendered by New York-born rapper and hip-hop sensation Jay Kila.
Mukattash has long dreamt of pursuing a career in music and was doing covers before releasing a debut song. Kila has performed all over the world and has been featured in magazines such as Rolling Stone India, Hello, and more. His music suits the current generation with its strong beats and catchy lyrics.
‘Habibi’ has been produced by Saahil, mastered by Pratham Mehra (Music Producer — Kimera) and recorded at the Silicon Oasis-based GTR Recording Studios in Dubai. Some portion of the recording was also done in Mumbai, Saahil told Newskarnataka.com.
Saahil, currently in Bangalore, where he closed out the production of the song at his home studio there, is a multi-genre electronic music producer and goes by the stage name “Melli”. The talented composer’s songs have been featured at major music festivals in the world including Belgium’s iconic Tomorrowland and BBC Radio UK. He’s also had his songs featured at the Spinnin’ Records Headquarters in Amsterdam.
The idea of ‘Habibi’, Saahil told Newskarnatka.com from Bangalore was born on a flight from Bengaluru to Dubai. It came to him because of the constant discrimination he encountered during his travels and in daily life. What we need is love, Saahil said. “I see cultural discrimination everywhere in the world. I would like to eradicate that through music. So the whole concept was to get different cultures together on one song”.
“Covid19 made the whole idea of world unity concrete and hence releasing it at this time makes a lot a sense. We are doing a follow-up music video as well and for the video, we are getting in a lot people from across the world to dance to the song so we are going to showcase that with their respective country flags so that it will convey the message of love and brotherhood clearly and adequately”, he added.
‘Habibi’ by Melli is available on all major online streaming services including Spotify, Apple Music, and Deezer and other stores.
Follow Melli on Instagram. Listen to the track here.
