The Perfect Sunrise: Artists from Kodaikanal to Korea unite to unfold hopes amid the pandemic

“The Perfect Sunrise”, a musical venture of The Art United project, released on 3 May 2020, is a masterpiece conceptualized by Chennai-based directors, Nithin Solomon, Pharez Mervyn Edwards and Timothy Vanderputt. The collaborated effort of 100 singers and musicians from Kodaikanal to Korea and the multilingual script in itself calls for unity and humanity more than ever.

With increasing COVID-19 cases all over the world, “The Perfect Sunrise” is an anthem of hope amidst the havoc. The song composed by Chennai-based musicians, Pharez Mervyn Edwards, Jefferson Pradeep Cornelius and Nithin Solomon, featured 88 singers and musicians from across India, Australia, US, South Korea, Singapore, Dubai, Kuwait and Muscat. “It started out with us wanting to do something as a band and as we built the song, we started to collaborate with a few other artists and the song shifted from a band project to a lot more than that”, says Nithin Solomon, the co-director and Bass guitarist.

It’s a multilingual song covering Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Hindi, Bengali, German, Spanish, English and Korean. The team felt that by including myriad languages, they could create a spirit of oneness during this period of uncertainty. “Doesn’t matter if you are rich or poor, tall or short, fair or dark, we need to stand together now more than ever”, adds Nithin.

On being told about the mass collaboration and hurdles of virtual recording, it was evident that a lot of their singers didn’t have the facilities and equipment for recording at home. They were not acquainted with the entire song and their own parts were sent to them through clipped audio tracks. Even though there was a major system crash and several technical issues with the video and graphics, the editors, Noel Prashanth and Timothy Vanderputt managed to pull through this project successfully. It took them nearly a month to proceed from ideating and scripting to executing the plan in totality.

“Everyone was very accommodating, and they looked at the song as their own project and did a lot more than what was asked,” said Nitin complimenting the team’s effort and attitude. The listeners were not the only people who waited for the song’s release but the entire team eagerly waited to know who they had sung with.

“It was great fun to work on a project with so many other people. In spite of all the obstacles, the organizers managed to make it sound good. It was a very positive experience and something that lifted our spirits during a difficult time”, says Zippora Madhukar, one of the singers in the team. This composition on their YouTube channel hit 27k views in a span of 5 months and this project still fascinates and heals people all over the world.

Editors: Sahana Mira, Aurelin Ruth