Turning sadness into song - Bani Haykal
BANI HAYKAL reflects on the different experiences behind his creativity.
When I was 14 years old, I bugged my dad to teach me the guitar. He was a musician, playing at Hard Rock Café, so he had a bunch of guitars that he kept at home. But, he was a busy man, so lessons were short. He'd just show me something and say, "Keep practising."
There was a lot of room for me to think about how I wanted to play. I started to put chords together to make a tune, and whilst doing that, I thought, "Maybe I'll write some lyrics." That was pretty much the starting point of my songwriting.
At that point in time, my family was staying at my grandmother's house, and my cousins would come over every Saturday and Sunday. Eventually we started playing music together as the band B-Quartet. We started off doing just instrumental pieces, but a few months later, we moved on to singing my songs.
From 2000, B-Quartet started getting more noticed in the circuit. We had a few more gigs, and developed a better understanding of our music. I was also listening to a lot of music by Bjork in that period. She was a big influence. I appreciated the way she wrote her lyrics, using a lot of strong images and sensations.
Then we entered National Service. We never really had the time to do music the way we were used to doing it, but I still wanted to do creative work. That's when I started working on poetry. It was different from writing lyrics. Songs require you to write in strict forms, but poetry can have much freer structures.
I met the poet Chris Mooney- Singh, and he introduced me to a writers' group called Writers' Connect. I'd never been in an environment where other people actually looked at your work and gave you constructive criticism. I think I learned a lot of things from the other writers there.
Chris also introduced me to the world of poetry slams, where poets perform their poems in competition with each other. I tried to make it a point to compete every month. It was just like playing music: the first few experiences were scary, but after a while I was able to take my nervousness and convert it into positive vibes.
Now B-Quartet is back together, and we've released two records. I'm really happy with what the band has done with both of them. I've also started another music collective called mux, in which I combine my poetry with music, art and video.
My family's been very supportive of my work. But, I never had a chance to find out what my father would have thought. By the time I started writing, he'd been suffering from his illness for about two years.
There were a lot of ups and downs in my family before he passed away. I think writing and music became escape routes for us from the difficulties and turmoil of what was happening. It was a way to turn our sadness into something positive.
About Bani Haykal
He is a 25-year-old poet, songwriter and musician. His indie music band, B-Quartet, has been called one of Singapore's most exciting live bands. They've released three CDs, The Smitten Bug, Tomorrow is our Permanent Address and Conformity has Replaced Consciousness. Haykal has also published one book of poetry, Sit Quietly in the Flood.
When I was 14 years old, I bugged my dad to teach me the guitar. He was a musician, playing at Hard Rock Café, so he had a bunch of guitars that he kept at home. But, he was a busy man, so lessons were short. He'd just show me something and say, "Keep practising."
There was a lot of room for me to think about how I wanted to play. I started to put chords together to make a tune, and whilst doing that, I thought, "Maybe I'll write some lyrics." That was pretty much the starting point of my songwriting.
At that point in time, my family was staying at my grandmother's house, and my cousins would come over every Saturday and Sunday. Eventually we started playing music together as the band B-Quartet. We started off doing just instrumental pieces, but a few months later, we moved on to singing my songs.
From 2000, B-Quartet started getting more noticed in the circuit. We had a few more gigs, and developed a better understanding of our music. I was also listening to a lot of music by Bjork in that period. She was a big influence. I appreciated the way she wrote her lyrics, using a lot of strong images and sensations.
Then we entered National Service. We never really had the time to do music the way we were used to doing it, but I still wanted to do creative work. That's when I started working on poetry. It was different from writing lyrics. Songs require you to write in strict forms, but poetry can have much freer structures.
I met the poet Chris Mooney- Singh, and he introduced me to a writers' group called Writers' Connect. I'd never been in an environment where other people actually looked at your work and gave you constructive criticism. I think I learned a lot of things from the other writers there.
Chris also introduced me to the world of poetry slams, where poets perform their poems in competition with each other. I tried to make it a point to compete every month. It was just like playing music: the first few experiences were scary, but after a while I was able to take my nervousness and convert it into positive vibes.
Now B-Quartet is back together, and we've released two records. I'm really happy with what the band has done with both of them. I've also started another music collective called mux, in which I combine my poetry with music, art and video.
My family's been very supportive of my work. But, I never had a chance to find out what my father would have thought. By the time I started writing, he'd been suffering from his illness for about two years.
There were a lot of ups and downs in my family before he passed away. I think writing and music became escape routes for us from the difficulties and turmoil of what was happening. It was a way to turn our sadness into something positive.
About Bani Haykal
He is a 25-year-old poet, songwriter and musician. His indie music band, B-Quartet, has been called one of Singapore's most exciting live bands. They've released three CDs, The Smitten Bug, Tomorrow is our Permanent Address and Conformity has Replaced Consciousness. Haykal has also published one book of poetry, Sit Quietly in the Flood.
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