How about making your own music?

After nearly three decades I recently got in touch with a singer-friend who reached out to me after seeing a music video of mine on Facebook. Within minutes we made up for the lost time but I was shattered to learn he had stopped singing due to health issues.

His endless struggle against his health challenges had drained out whatever passion he had for music and he just stopped singing. When asked, he said he hadn’t been singing since 1991.

His name is Haobam Nanao. In his prime, he was the frontman of a hard rock cover band called Ultra Vires in the late ‘90s in our hometown – Imphal, Manipur in India -- and had a great vocal range and even greater stage presence. He was a treat to watch and a joy to listen to. His rendition of AC/DC’s ‘Shook Me All Night Long’ is one of the best I have seen.

In between our conversation on WhatsApp, I casually sent him some of my recent instrumental compositions and a couple of vocal covers of classic rock to give him a hint of what I have been up to on the music front in all these years.

He was surprised to learn that, for the cover songs, I had made use of backing tracks. He didn’t know that one can find backing tracks – similar to karaoke – of almost all the popular songs on YouTube. So I told him a little bit about how I produced my music. Any popular song you think of, you can get hold of the backing track. One only needs to convert it into MP3 format with the help of free MP3-converter websites, then use a recording application/software to sing over it. And you have your song sounding like a professional.

I had to explain a little about the recording software. It’s been a while since home recording studio kits were available in the market and many aspiring artists are using them to produce music from home. Some have even become global stars. American singer-songwriter Billie Eilish is the best example. Her first international hit, ‘Ocean Eyes’ (from her debut EP, Don't Smile at Me, 2017) was created in her bedroom. Australian multi-instrumentalist Tash Sultana also started her music career from her bedroom. Her reggae-tinged hit ‘Jungle’ is as infectious as a song can get on first listen.

Anyone remembers ‘Fireflies’ by Owl City (2009)? This track enjoyed massive airplay in the UAE when it came out -- you couldn’t avoid it. A huge hit it was. Yet the truth is the track was recorded by frontman Adam Young in the basement of his parents’ house. (In case you didn’t know: Owl City’s album ‘Ocean Eyes’ which features ‘Fireflies’ -- no connection to Billie Eilish song -- has the picture of Burj Al Arab on the cover. It’s a mystery why he used it.)

Coming back to my friend, I figured he got fired up by the idea of using backing tracks to record songs. The next day, which was the New Year day, he surprised me with his first singing “after eons” - in his own words. With the help of the StarMaker app and using the regular mobile phone earpiece mic, he recorded John Lennon’s ‘Jealous Guy’. I loved it. He still had it in him. I couldn’t contain my excitement, I played it loud in the house.

Then on January 2, he sent me a recording of Rod Stewart’s version of Etta James blues classic ‘I Would Rather Go Blind’. On January 4, he sent his cover of Deep Purple’s ‘Soldier of Fortune’. On January 6 he recorded three songs: Beatles’ ‘Something’, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s ‘Simple Man’ and Lionel Richie’s ‘Hello’. On January 8, he sang Neil Young’s ‘The Needle And The Damage Done’, and on January 11, he recorded Tom Petty’s ‘Free Falling’ and ‘Into the Great Wide Open’.

My friend was not just singing again - he was on a roll. I knew he was back. It was only covers but they were good enough to help him rediscover the passion within. He found his voice again and was willing to give himself some more time to nail it.

Now, I am trying to push him to get a proper home studio recording kit so that he can raise the game and enhance the quality of his production. Also, we have promised each other to jam together whenever we meet and make some music. Hell yeah, we are going to rock again!