One of the memorable voices from popular 90s hits is that of Sadasivan KM Nambisan aka Sadu. The vocalist, lyricist, composer and a founder member of the famous erstwhile pop act, Aryans, Sadu is determined to carry forward the legacy of hummable melodies, such as Aankhon Mein Tera Hi Chehra, Dekha Hai Teri Aankhon Ko and Yeh Hawa Kehti Hai Kyaas a solo artist.

What started as a pursuit to entertain the audiences during the lockdown, has now become a well-appreciated series of singles, which looks at the timeless genre of ghazals with a contemporary approach. Riding on the overwhelming response that Sadu received for his live ghazal renditions during the lockdown and his last two ghazal-pop singles called Aankh Se Door Na Ho and Khoj: In Search of Self, the renowned vocalist/composer decided to continue his pursuit of the genre.

His renditions were met with a rather warm responsenot just from music fans in India, but also Pakistan, Bangladesh and other far corners of the world. That coupled with the artist’s sentiment towards the lack of awareness and exposure around the genre of ghazals today, Sadu then set his mind towards making the beautiful legacy of ghazals more accessible to the large number of underexposed audiences with contemporary arrangements. “It’s my humble attempt to contemporarise ghazals, with sounds and production tech palatable for the contemporary audience, all the while maintaining the sanctity of the genre that’s a part of the Indian heritage and culture,” says the singer.

His first single in this direction was a pop-style ghazal titled Aankh Se Door Ho released in September which could safely be called a 2020 take on the famous ghazal penned by one of the most prominent of Pakistani poets - Ahmad Faraz.

Sadu concluded 2020 with another beautiful and intense pop-ghazal called Khoj in December. Based on the words of the renowned poet Nida Fazli, Khoj examines the search for self and loneliness as subjects. The novelty of the pop-ghazal track is the composition which is rendered in a Hindustani classical ghazal style, with a jugalbandi of slide guitar played in a Carnatic classical style and the drums and piano in a jazz style. Khoj is a mesmerising and intense combination that co-exists amongst different styles without disturbing the soul of the ghazal.

The latest video single from the series titled Habeeb (April 2021), is based on the words of the famous Urdu poet Bashir Badr. The mellifluous number evokes a feel of the old-fashioned yet evergreen simplicity of romance from the eras gone by.  Enhanced by soft vocals along with saxophone (a rarity nowadays) and piano sections, Habeeb centres around the emotions of longing, desire and the occasional inability of loversto be able to express their true feelings.

Habeeb is composed and sung by Sadu , music production is done by 9emotions media and the music video is produced by Sadu’s home production Seventh Angle productions.