‘Chotaa sa Safar...’, a song about journeys and memories

The composer/singer Manu Rajeev says it is the kind of song that inspired him to become a musician

Music composer Manu Rajeev’s single ‘Purani Yaadein…’ is an earworm. The making of the nostalgia-loaded slow song earlier this year reminded Manu of why he became a musician. “This is the kind of emotional music that I wanted to make.” Another single, composed and sung by him, ‘Chotaa sa Safar…’ releases on September 10 on his YouTube channel, Spotify and other platforms. “It has been inspired by all the journeys — literal and symbolic — that I have made. While studying in Delhi, I used to make the two-day train journey back home to Thiruvananthapuram. In two days everything used to transition from one state to the next, not just geographically. Once the train was delayed for more than 20 hours; that too was an experience. During this time memories have been comforting spaces...a little bit of this has also inspired ‘Chotaa sa…’” Manu was busy during the initial days of the lockdown since he had work to finish. “Once that was done, I had time on my hands since filming and recordings came to a standstill. That is when I had time to think about life, work, music. In the initial days of my career, I had made a Malayalam single ‘Etho Oru Neerthaa Sangeetham’ with G Venugopal. All that thinking led me to realise, and remember, why I chose music. It was to make music like that and not just compose for films or commercials or theme songs of clients. This kind of music is my job, but I want to make some that I want as well.”