SANAM is India’s most loved all-boy band with thousands of fans across the world – An internet phenomena dubbed as the One Direction of India and now they’re making their way to South African shores!
The group made up by frontman, Sanam Puri, Samar Puri (lead guitar and vocals), Venky S (bass guitar and vocals) and Keshav Dhanraj (drums) rose to fame after composing their renditions of hit Bollywood songs and uploading them to their YouTube channel. Their YouTube channel (with over 720 000 subscribers) features both original and cover songs and has received millions of views. “We’re really looking forward to our first visit to South Africa and we’ve planned a power-packed show,” says Samar Puri.
Their music video Duaa ft Sanah Moidutty has over 13 million views alone, yet they remain humble about their fame. Their fans have labelled themselves SANAMians. “YouTube was a blessing. We wanted to store some videos online so we could share them with our friends and the industry. We didn’t have enough money to hire a team to shoot our videos or edit them. So we decided to learn to do it on our own. So our focus throughout was overcoming every obstacle that came our way and our dream of making music and music videos for the world to see. We never sat to think about fame or where this would take us,” says Samar.
The boy band describes its sound as contemporary pop rock and with their distinct blend of Omani roots and Indian musicians; their sound is refreshingly different setting them apart from the rest in the Indian Indie music scene. “We don’t limit ourselves to one style of music. We just want to keep putting out good music and keep our listeners happy,” says Sanam. “Each of us has different musical inspirations and the blend of all our styles is evident in the music we create,” adds Keshav.
Earlier known as SQS Supastars, the band changed their name to SANAM in 2014. Samar, Venky and Sanam studied at the same school together, where they formed a band. Many years later, brothers, Sanam and Samar moved to Mumbai to pursue their musical dreams. They were introduced to Keshav. They hit it off and formed ‘The SQS Project’. In May 2010, Times Music launched a nationwide pop band hunt looking for young talent in India. Out of the thousands of entries that auditioned, ‘The SQS Project’ won the hearts of the nation. At this point, Venky joined the group for the finals and they went on to secure the coveted title, and so ‘SQS Supastars’ was formed. This led to the album release of Supastars and the music videos for their songs Hawa Hawa and Bekha.
Event proudly brought to you by Star Plus in association with Blu Blood and Dabur Miswaak. SANAM LIVE is set to take fans, old and young, on an unforgettable musical journey on 28th August 2016 at the Centre Court at Emperors Palace in Johannesburg. Tickets are now available at Computicket.
Not yet convinced that this will be an unforgettable experience?! Watch our 8 most favourite SANAM tracks!