News & Event Updates
October 2018’s Feature – Haramain & Judah Lyne
Haramain fell in love with pop music at the age of 5 when his dad introduced him to a Michael Jackson album. At 15, he learnt how to play basic guitar from his secondary school friends and eventually developed a keen interest in writing original songs.
Judah has been singing and playing various instruments on stage since her primary school days. When her group won NEA’s Eco Music Challenge in 2010, it also led to her collaborating with Haramain in writing more original songs for local talents. Her vocal coaching experience and abilities have helped in many recording sessions where the singers are required to pour every bit of emotion into their songs.
COMPASS: Congrats on your recent win at APM 2018 with Racun. What was the inspiration behind the song?
Judah: Thank you so much! We are very grateful to win this award with Farhan Shah. We had a chat with him over coffee one day on the type of song he wanted to put out. Without his heartfelt story and soulful voice, the song would not be what it is today.
Haramain: ‘Racun’ means poison in English. So the lyrics were written to describe someone who is actually very toxic in Farhan Shah’s life. He didn’t want a slow song on this topic so we decided to come up with one that is anthemic, confident and has a slight bit of angst.
C: How long have you been writing songs and why this industry?
J: I started writing in 2010 before I met Haramain at NEA’s Eco Music Challenge on that same year. Being able to write a song that fits a singer well has always felt satisfying for me as I came from a singing background.
H: I started writing in 2002. I’ve always loved pop songs since I was a kid and felt that if those songs on the radio were able to make me feel good, it’d be great if I could learn how to produce them so more people can hopefully feel the same.
C: How did you guys ended up writing songs together and how did you resolve any musical differences between both of you?
H: We both met while we were in the same songwriting competition and Judah’s team won. Apart from being a really nice person, she was also adept in singing and playing multiple instruments. So, the decision to collaborate with her was a no-brainer. When we have musical differences, we just play both of our ideas one after another and let the song choose the one that fits it best. It is usually easy to tell since we have similar tastes.
J: I feel like where Haramain lacks in music theory, he makes up for it with technical knowledge. I tend to easily get confused by all the music production terms. So, in a way it feels like we fill each other’s gaps when it comes to executing an idea for a song.
C: Which is your favorite song of all that you have written and why?
H: Hahaha! I love them all like they are my babies! But if I really had to choose, it will be the song we did for RIA 89.7FM called ‘RIA! We are Fun!’ We had our close friends and favourite artistes singing in it. To also have the radio DJs dancing with us in the music video meant the world for me as they have been very supportive of local music for a very long time.
J: Same goes for me! It was really fun working on it with all of them!
C: What are your music plans for the future?
J: For the future? I’d love to still be working with the artistes that we’ve enjoyed working with. Juggling our day jobs while doing music as a hobby at night takes its toll sometimes but doing it with them just makes it all worthwhile.
H: We are still learning and experimenting with different music production ideas and techniques during our free time. I hope to simply get better and be able to write more songs, get more singers heard, and have more people enjoying local music.
Where to find Haramain & Judah:
Twitter: @thelionstory