Reggae is a musical genre developed by Jamaicans of African ancestry in the late 1960s. Music lovers have grown up listening to Bob Marley, Shaggy and UB40 Julian Marley However, with its infectious beat and ever growing popularity Reggae reached Goan shores and now of Goa’s musicians, Varun Carvalho, has released his reggae song. ‘We Are Warriors’ by Varun and Rise Nation featuring Lion-I, recently premiered on Reggaeville, which is considered one of the biggest Reggae online platforms in the world. It is not an easy feat to get selected for a single song when this international platform receives thousands of songs from all across the world.
Varun Carvalho, a professional dentist and the founder of the RiseNation Army has been working on this song for months. The rhythm or riddim was composed by Varun Carvalho and sung by Varun and Isaac Kharbteng aka Lion – I and Rousseau Fernandes on guitar. “I hope that the song will inspire people all around the world to rise up against injustice and fight for their rights. I believe that music has the power to change and if we have to bring change in this world, the warriors of the world need to come together, unite and fight the battle together,” says Varun, highlighting the lyrics of the song.
“The song was sent to Reggaeville nearly 3-4 months back. They have a meeting with entire team and go through the song and check if it meets their criteria. The entire video was sent to them and finally it was selected and premiered on their YouTube channel. The music video for the song was shot by renowned filmmaker Shivesh Mishra and the editing and post production was done at BluCloud Studios by Froebel Rebello. We shot the video at Cavelossim and Cabo de Rama,” says Varun. Reggaeville has a wide audience as it has its own magazine, music label, radio channel and even organises music festivals through the year.
Isaac Kharbteng, who popularly goes by the name Lion-I, is a reggae artist from Sikkim. He has been to Goa a few years back for Sunsplash Goa, India’s biggest reggae festival since 2016. “I met Isaac a few years back at Sunsplash, which is not only India’s but even South Asia’s biggest reggae festival. We collaborated and he came down to Goa to record the song and later to shoot the video,” says Varun. Previously, Varun Carvalho’s video, ‘Set Me Free’ was aired on VH1, India’s premium English music channel as he was the first Indian artist signed by AMI Records. He recently composed the Purple Fest Anthem, for the Purple Fest, India’s first-of-its-kind inclusivity festival in Goa.
“We have to push music beyond Goa, India and go global. Our band, Rise Nation has mainly been focusing on reggae music. We are working on an entire album with James Malcolm, Bob Marley’s cousin, who was in Goa. The music is a fusion of Indian sounds with reggae which should be ready within two months. We are planning to submit the album for the upcoming Grammys as the album is very unique and they want to see the full volume of work,” concludes Varun, optimistic about Goan music reaching greater heights.
