Acclaimed international
actor, singer-songwriter and film director Farhan has released ‘Why
Couldn’t It Be Me’, the latest track from his highly-anticipated
debut album Echoes, which is out February 22nd.
Echoes features a culmination of Farhan’s lifetime
experiences, beautifully combining emotion with empathy and soul. ‘Why
Couldn’t It Be Me’ is a powerful and emotive journey into the pain of grief
and guilt and is available to download today on all streaming platforms.
Whilst the album is an eclectic musical mix and lyrically focused on
love and relationships, the largely acoustic ‘Why Couldn’t It Be Me’ brings an
extra dimension to Farhan’s work and has been released during the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence -
an international campaign to challenge violence against women and
girls.
A key track on the album, it’s also the
only song that “isn’t looking inward but it’s about an external event” and
is a song written to heighten awareness of the need to tackle violence.
That event – a massacre in Peshawar in Pakistan, when the Taliban
stormed into an army school and shot over 200 children – was a truly profound
moment for Farhan.
After it happened, Farhan read an article about “a mother whose younger son hadn’t gone to school that day because he’d
pretended to be sick. But his older sibling had gone and had been killed in the
massacre. When I read that story I thought it must be such a strange dilemma
for a young boy – ‘that could have been me in place of my brother.’ So just
that thought got me writing, and I wrote ‘Why Couldn’t It Be Me’ from the perspective of that younger brother.”
From mothers and fathers to children and
siblings of victims, the pain is felt throughout a family and community. ‘Why
Couldn’t It Be Me’ is Farhan’s latest endeavour to tackle the maltreatment of
women in line with his ongoing commitment to use his worldwide profile to
spread awareness of gender inequalities and the need to end
violence in order to empower women and girls in every corner of
the world.
A hugely successful and
influential figure in India, Farhan is an actor, screenwriter, director and
producer with countless movies to his name. He has also flexed his musical muscles
before – not least playing the part of the front man of a rock band in the
critically acclaimed film Rock On!!
(2008) – but he’s been keen to record his own album for a long time. Yet for
years his other interests – and life – got in the way.
“Over the
last two years I felt a little bit of a burn-out setting in, just from working
on films non-stop,” says Farhan.
“I just felt I needed some time out for myself, to reconnect with other things, to look at where my life’s at – I wanted
to channel what I was feeling, and put it out there, just to share with people.
And I found that process very cathartic.”
Echoes is the
result; a debut album that is deep and powerful, poignant and inspiring. It is
also, a set of classic-sounding, self-written songs that reflect a childhood
steeped in the greats of both Indian music, such as Kishore Kumar and Ravi Shankar, and of western rock and pop: The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Eric Clapton, David Bowie.
Recorded in Milan, the rich, melodic album was produced by
Grammy-winning producer Tommaso Colliva (Franz Ferdinand, Jesus and Mary Chain,
Muse). It opens with the previous single
‘Rearview Mirror’, which channels the timelessness of early Bowie and the
ambition of Sgt. Peppers… amid soft
rock orchestration and delicate melodies tinged with subtle psychedelia.
Further highlights include,
‘Seagull’ which finds Farhan touching on a transcendent blend of minimal
instrumentation and emotive lyricism, and ‘If Love Is Not Enough’, which
questions what is needed to keep a relationship together, before the more
upbeat tones of ‘Bird On The Wire’ provide an anthemic crescendo of passionate
expression.
Explaining the album’s title, he notes that, “Echoes. It’s about
chapters in my life and voices in my head that have influenced the writing. All of us have our personal journeys through life, through love. We struggle
at times to make sense of our emotions
and of the
world around us. So here I am, speaking
as honestly as I can about my journey.”
That desire for connecting, for reaching out, also informs another of
Farhan’s interests, which includes him being the South Asia goodwill ambassador
for UN WOMEN – The United Nations
Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. He recently
launched the campaigning organization in India, MARD – Men Against Rape &
Discrimination, which seeks to change male attitudes and bring positive change
to the role and respect of women in the sub-continent.
With his inbuilt artistry and his CV – not to mention his genes –
Farhan has already proven he’s adept at speaking to millions, and at using his
voice for change. And now, with his tuneful, universal debut album, this gifted
musician is ready to speak to people in a whole new winning way.