The Singing Comedian Munawar Faruqui is a known name in the stand-up comedy world. However, he is now venturing into something new, and that too doing really well. He has come up with his debut music album 'Madari', and here are a few reasons why we feel this album is a musical masterpiece.
By Kavya Pillai •
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Munawar Faruqui is a known name in the stand-up comedy world. However, he is now venturing into something new, and that too doing really well. He has come up with his debut music album 'Madari', and here are a few reasons why we feel this album is a musical masterpiece.
Recognised as one of the most loved stand-up comics, he is now slowly turning into a promising musical talent. Munawar Faruqui has dropped his highly anticipated album, 'Madari', creating a buzz among fans. Songs like 'Noor' and 'Alag BT' from the album have already garnered millions of streams and fans are hooked on the entire album. We had an opportunity to chat with this artist and dove into how music came into this comedian's life. "After the first lockdown, an underground rapper contacted me to ask if I could use his song in the title of my standup video. He had around, a thousand subscribers and was from Delhi. I liked the music and particularly his rap so I called him and told him his work was amazing and in return, he asked me why I don't rap or sing since I write well. I clearly told him that I can not sing to which he explained that if you can write well you can also rap well." Munawar saw the puzzled expression on our faces and continued, "Rap does not particularly demand singing really well." "After this, I collaborated with him and wrote some stuff. And in August 2020 we released a song named 'Jawab'," he said.
We were curious to know what routine does this singer-comedian follow to which Munawar straightforwardly said, "I don't feel I have any routine." "My life in particular had no routine as I used to work during my open mic days, so I would catch a train to the venue and I hardly had any time. The minute the train reached the station, I would get off and make a run for it. I would reach the venue, drop my bag in the green room and step onto the stage immediately. So there was no such routine. At present, I still do not have a routine," he said. Now that the train travel is out of his life, we asked what do you do now with the little time you have before getting on stage, "So before my set, there are some hip-hop songs playing, I stand still backstage for half an hour, and just take it all in. I talk to myself or memorize my set or try to add or deduct some material from my set."
Every artist has a muse, when it came to Munawar's muse or people who inspire him, he said, "What AIB did was revolutionary in the space of comedy. As for an inspiring individual, for me Tanmay Bhat. He has a great sense of content plus his consistency and business sense make him have a really strong game." On the lines of business sense, he also spoke about how he deals with the commerce of art. "Creativity and business are separate but the whole purpose of creativity is to be seen, heard and enjoyed by an audience. This is the reason behind building anything creative. Now when people want to access your creative work, they want to enjoy more of your creativity, that is when the business side of your work starts parallel." He further added, "The audience today is extremely smart and they want only the best so that helps me as an artist be consistent in putting out my best work."
Lastly, we asked Munawar what his golden advice would be for other aspiring comedians. Jokingly Munawar said, "Hire a good lawyer". "In today's world to be a comedian you need to be relatable and your content should be raw and not made up. People make a mistake when they make jokes about their locality which not many members of the audience may be able to relate to, so if you are making a joke about something specific to one locality build a stronger setup leading to that joke. On YouTube, there is a wider audience that you should appeal to. Lastly, go perform on stages often. There will be no better teacher than the stage as you will know your drawbacks immediately and you should work on being really comfortable on stage." Munawar is currently working on his music and comedy. He plans on releasing "more content in the coming few months".
