Premiere: Roy and Dub Sharma Team Up for Anthemic ‘Baari Hamaari’

At the start of 2018, New Delhi visual artist and rapper Sumit Roy kicked off his solo art show called I Hope To Match Your Furniture, which also featured music he made for the exhibition. Roy recalls he created a self-titled song for the show, “It was supposed to be a small ad for the art show but it picked up so much that we made it into a song and we’re finally releasing it.”

Now transformed into “Baari Hamaari,” the hard hitting, anthemic track is kicking off Roy’s forthcoming debut album HEROCK, which is produced by ace beatsmith and composer Dub Sharma. The song flows somewhat unpredictably in the first verse until Roy brings in the chorus over a distinctive flute-like melody sampled by Sharma.

Putting out music since 2017, Roy first caught Sharma’s attention when the former’s first track “Hello Uncle, Namaste” was released. “Dub was the first person to share it and that was huge for me.” Along the way, Roy has found allies in everyone from comedian Kunal Kamra (for whose stand-up video Roy composed “Chowkidaar”) to actor Swara Bhaskar. HEROCK takes its name from the character Hirak in legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray’s Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne sequel, Hirak Rajar Deshe (1980), which touches upon the topic of hero-worship, referencing India’s current political system.

In the video directed by Nitish Kanjilal (who has previously worked with New Delhi’s Peter Cat Recording Co.), there’s footage of Roy’s past gigs as well as his native Behrampore Court in West Bengal. Videos for other songs off the album will include seasoned directors such as Q aka Quashiq Mukherjee and Poet of the Black aka Archisman Misra. Roy adds, “It’s amazing the amount of people who come together to make projects like this happen. I can make my own visuals and do things, but once I get to collaborate, the vision expands. That’s exactly what we’re trying to do with HEROCK on a larger level. We have different artists contributing, artworks that’ll soon go out by people in the art and design community. While a rapper would probably flex cars and shit, we’re just flexing skills and the fact that we’re coming in together.”

Watch the video for “Baari Hamaari” below. Stream on more platforms here.