Jeevz, Michael Jackson, Timbaland, Justin Timberlake, Teddy Riley, Ryan Leslie, T-Pain. Justice, Hans Zimmer, Yanni, Family Force 5, Dr. Dre, Eminem, Jay-Z, Common, Hendrix, Tower of Power, Earth Wind & Fire.
This is Jeevz and I’m the one to look out for in the future, maybe even sooner.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We only just met. There are things that you might want to know about me. And for that, we need to travel to the past.
Let’s rewind that obsolete cassette tape to 1996; the year MC Hammer filed for bankruptcy, the year Tupac Shakur released the first-ever rap double album, the year Michael Jackson embarked on the HIStory World Tour and reached Malaysian shores for the first time. I’m 10 years old and I’m in a studio – my mother is recording an album of classical Indian music while I’m practicing my moonwalk.
And just like good ol’ MJ, I started singing and performing for a live audience at a young age. My first few shows were with my musician mother. Wait. Press Pause. I think I just lost some street-cred there. “Yeah, man, my mom gave me my first big break.” Cool dude, real cool. But I like to look at it this way: Michael Jackson played the congas and tambourine in the background for his older brothers before he earned his place as the lead singer of the Jackson 5. The music business is tough; if you want in, then any narrow opening should do. I’ll crawl through a cat flap if that is what it takes. Nobody gets into the business through the front door – that’s for the very special few to get out.
You could say that because I was born to musically-inclined parents, I got a head start. Maybe I did. But as someone once said to me, no matter how tall your grandfather was; you have to do your own growing. Take Justin Timberlake, for example – if he didn’t do his own growing, he would be a church choir director, like his father, instead of an international pop superstar.
Fast-forward to 2005 – I’m 17 and I’m holding a coveted Seri Angkasa Award (Malaysia) in my hands for a national radio signature tune that I sang. The award helped me gain admission into the International College of Music (ICOM), Malaysia, which is part of the Berklee International Network.
At ICOM, I experienced something akin to a musical growth spurt. My lecturers said they were not surprised at all by the rapid progress I made as they felt that I have a foundation built upon a high level of musicianship. Who am I to disagree with a good thing? My unique vocal performances became more soulful and I was much sought after to provide lead vocals for other students’ performances, as well as to re-arrange their compositions – making it a little fuller, adding a little more variety and helping create a good musical feel on the whole. The time that I spent collaborating on songs with my fellow students strengthened my appreciation for diversity in music. As Timbaland has shown, it’s not about who you work with; it’s about how you work with it.
Other than my childhood exposure to classical Indian music, I’ve always shown an affinity for Hip-Hop/ R&B styles in the Pop genre but I’m also constantly experimenting with new styles. After all, if no one ever broke barriers in music, we’ll all still be partying to the Seikilos Epitaph and singing hymns from Mesomedes of Crete from 2nd CE.
Diversity in music comes not just from the people making the music, but those who listen to it too. Music has helped me communicate with a wide range of people – I’ve performed in front of Earth, Wind & Fire and their R&B-Funk-70s-Disco-Loving fans at a tribute gig; I front-lined the Kuala Lumpur Foundation to Criminalize War (KLFCW) Concert in the presence of Malaysia’s King and former Prime Minister, Tun Mahathir Mohammad and in between, I’ve dropped infectious beats and provided rocking choruses for college students to let loose and get down on the dancefloor to. Whatever direction my music may take – I’ll make it relevant to YOU and you, and you, and you.
Fast-forward to 29th March 2009: I’m in Boston, attending the Berklee College of Music and pursuing my Bachelor of Music in Songwriting. I’ve just found out that my song “Poppin”, recorded in the 2 months before I left for Berklee, has bagged a Best Hip-Hop Song Award at the AVIMA (Asia’s 1st independent music awards). The song entered the category as an underdog but sometimes, David really does beat out Goliath. I feel triumphant and ready to take things to a Higher Dimension, which just happens to be the title of another song I worked on .
Higher Dimension opens with guitar courtesy of Alexander David Potts and it’s a homage to the days of Rock & Roll when the hair was bad and the music was oh-so-good. Hit the 0:42 mark, you’ll hear my vocals kick in to high gear- R&B twisted with a few sly winks to Bollywood – and KR Dorsey completes the fusion explosion with hard-hitting rap verses. It’s the kind of song that vibrates through your ears and feel in your bones. Like any good anthem, it makes you want to stand up for what you feel is right.
Press the fast-forward button again. Let’s come back to the present. I am producing and co-arranging songs with Steven Chelliah, the Ambassador of the Jazz Composition Department in Berklee. The songs will showcase yet another different side of me as a musician. I’m constantly trying to grow in new directions, expanding my music universe to space unknown and now I’ve come knocking on your door…
This is Jeevz and I’m the one to look out for in the future, maybe even sooner.
Just press play.
Myspace: www.myspace.com/romanojeevz
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