Success never knocks one’s door and gives a notice before its arrival. And further, every success has its own story companion which is distinctive in its own way. This time we bring to you the story of a vibrant band of 8 people, “V Minor” which has a story of its own like a Phoenix. To the story of being reborn from the ashes!
They all went to the same school in Calicut and also lived in the same locality. One day out of the blue, they all decided to meet at someone’s place for a scrumptious meal of biryani. After having biryani to their fullest, all of them went to the room on the top floor and were just lying and trying to make some space for the overdosed biryani. There were a harmonium and a tabla in that room that belonged to the two brothers there, Sidharth and Adithya. Sidharth was a learned harmonium player and started playing the tune of Radioactive by Imagine Dragons on harmonium. There was no specific reason behind that performance but there was something divergent about a West music tune being played over an Indian classical instrument. Despite how atypical the idea was, the outcome that was falling in place was extraordinary. Coincidently all of the boys present there in the room started tunning themselves to it and each one of them arranged for an instrument and started playing along with Sidharth i.e. the tune of Radioactive. The outcome put in together sounded astounding and they decided to make a video and upload it on YouTube.
All the events that took place, none of it was planned. One can say that it was rather destined for all of it to happen at the hands of creators. Instruments like guitar, ukulele, and many more have strings such as A minor (Am), D minor (Dm), and many more. And since all of them were still in school thus minors, they decided to name their band “V Minor”. Therefore, this remarkable band was created. Funny how people fight over the most delicious biryani, but these people started their journey and bonding over a bowl of biryani. They uploaded their first video on YouTube and even before they were able to get barely 2000 views, YouTube showed its own plans. And hence it was rightly quoted by Mr. Zubin K Kuth (percussionist) from the band that “YouTube can be friendly yet cruel at the same time”.
Coincidence is the language of the stars, for something to happen. Yet so many forces have to be put in together for action. Gradually, the YouTube channel became a blurred memory for all the members. When the V Minor had about a mere of 10-15 subscribers on its YouTube channel, Imagine Dragons saw their video somehow.
Mr. Zubin got a call from one of his friends at 3:00 am asking him to check their YouTube channel. On sensing the enthusiasm in his friend’s tone, Mr. Imtiaz checked the channel and he was flabbergasted. The channel which has only 10-15 subscribers now had around 2k-3k subscribers and over 1 lakh views on their video of Radioactive by Imagine Dragons. There were comments congratulating them as Imagine Dragons had tweeted their video!
None of them were on Twitter back then. They downloaded the application; made an account and the first thing they did was check the profile of Imagine Dragons. They saw Imagine Dragons had shared their video on their Twitter account with a caption “Love this”. It was unbelievable, as perfect as a miracle. This incident rather was a push for the V minor which further inspired them to continue their work.
Initially, the band had 7 members out of which 1 left immediately. Recently they become a band of 8 members namely Nithin Ramakaksham (piano), Fidal Vishal Kundan (vocal/keys), Sidharth Chandipazham (harmonium), Adithya Chandipazham (tabla), Alex Maamus (guitar), Allen Maamus (bass guitar), Pranav Kadalavaanam (violin) & Zubin K Kuth (percussion). Eventually, all of them moved to different states even countries to pursue their higher studies and it became an obstacle for all of them to come together frequently and keep up with regular updates on their YouTube channel. They still wanted to continue and tried their best. They used to meet once a year during Christmas and shoot 3 videos. So, their update used to be just 3 videos per year! They even used to get offers for concerts to perform with singers like Armaan Malik but due to their geographical issue, they had to let it go.
The band used to shoot the video in a single go without any editing or mixing which used to be over a regular mic, ultimately resulting in compromised audio quality. Thus, they started shooting in studios yet were not able to connect to their audience as before as there was a change of ‘vibe’. Audio shoot and video shoot used to be clubbed and edited and it was evident that they were not matching with their previous aura of the videos. So, they resumed back to ‘one-go-shoot’ without any editing or mixing as it is better to fail at originality than to succeed at imitation.
The band identifies Covid-19 as a blessing in disguise for V Minor as this situation brought them back together again in the same locality and now, they are making 4-5 videos a month with a 280K plus subscriber base on YouTube in just 3 weeks. The corona situation gave them a chance to make a bang on a comeback. They got time to live for their happiness. They express their gratitude towards their parents who have been there with them through thick and thin. Be it food, money, travel, and moral support; everything. They once had a golden opportunity to represent India in Google Conference held at Macau, China in November 2018. It was a remarkable experience for them to share the same stage with renowned artists worldwide.
The story of V Minor portrays that there is no perfect time and chance to prevail in success, but always endless efforts which further lubricates the entire pathway. Further, if your goals and happiness tend to lie in the same quadrant, there is nothing stopping you at all. Keep working, keep trying as one day it will all be worth it!
A personal message from V Minor,
“we are just very happy with all the warm love we received so far! Keep supporting us and we hope to bring Indian music to more and more people.”
-Team Satyavachan
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