In perfect harmony
> Malaysia musical duo Sher Mohamed and Juanita Ramayah are currently riding high with their first single, Free the Music
YOU could very well be one of the 38,000 viewers who watched local pop band DVA’s rendition of Seal’s Kiss from a Rose that went viral on Facebook in April last year.
Pronounced as ‘dua’ – a direct translation of the number ‘two’ in Bahasa Malaysia – DVA comprises Sher Mohamed, 27, and Juanita Ramayah, 26, both hitz.fm radio presenters and collegemates who discovered a mutual love for music when they had to perform a song together during their final semester.
Prior to that, Sher was involved in several rock bands, while Juanita had zero exposure to the music industry. But their performance was nominated for Best College Act at the Voice Independent Music Awards, much to their surprise.
“It wasn’t great at all, but we thought to ourselves, if we can do this, then surely we can do something better,” says Sher.
They found themselves a producer, Farique Nadzir, to guide and fine-tune their skills, which eventually led to the release of their first cover on YouTube, Justin Bieber’s Love Yourself, at the end of 2015.
The number of views reached beyond their expectations, and encouraged them to produce more covers, often accompanied by high quality music videos shot by Pinang Films, a team of local videographers.
Juanita recalls: “That one did really well, which we weren’t expecting at all! It went up to a thousand plus views per day, and until today, we’ve been getting only good feedback.”
The covers they did have always encompassed both singers’ unique strengths: Sher is more of a rocker, and Juanita is all about R&B, soul and funk.
Despite their jarring fortes, their music has always been executed harmoniously, thanks to Farique, who constantly keeps them on track.
Juanita explains: “He brings a good balance to things, like for example, I like to do runs and [Sher] likes to do screams.
“Farique listens to the music and knows what works and what doesn’t, so he will tell us if it’s unnecessary or if what we’re doing is overpowering the other person.”
Sher adds: “We’ve always noticed that in a band, initially, it’s all about harmony, but after a while, the members want to showcase their own talent … Farique would never allow us to do that.”
But above all else, the chemistry between the two plays a big part in keeping them together.
“I think it’s the fact that we get along really well,” says Juanita. “We don’t fight, so there’s not much misunderstanding between us. It’s not just with music, but with life in general. I get upset and I can call him at 3.30 in the morning!” Sher adds: “It’s great because we’re best friends, and if you really don’t like something, [she] can tell me.”
Last year, the duo was signed
to Warner Music Malaysia.
Their biggest achievement to date was doing the opening act for Canadian pop-punk band Simple Plan’s 2016 Kuala Lumpur concert.
DVA has also released its first original single titled Free the Music, a feel-good pop song with a hint of funk.
Drawing inspiration from Bruno Mars’ 24K Magic and Justin Timberlake’s Can’t Stop the Feeling, the talented duo decided to go for tunes that people could groove to.
“I used to be one of those guys who didn’t like listening to pop and mainstream music, but when I started working at hitz.fm, I realised how difficult it is to write a good pop song!” says Sher.
“For a good rock song, it doesn’t need to sound repetitive, but for a pop song, it needs to stick in your head the first time you listen to it.”
The two reveal that it took them close to eight months to complete Free the Music.
“We wanted it to be perfect, it’s our first [original single] and that was the challenge for us, because we would hear it over and over again,” says Juanita, adding that they had a total of 35 versions of the song before they were finally satisfied with the final product.
DVA is currently working on its second single. This time, the duo might be working with two talented singer-songwriters from Singapore.