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Jairam Chawan’s poem, Red Coat & Lipstick, captivated a singer and her ukulele playing friend on the streets of Budapest so much that it turned into a winning music video.
The video took third place in the #minimalistic category of the 2020 London Music Video Festival (LMVF), which is a popular competition created for music video makers and enthusiasts from around the world. It provides a platform for people to showcase their music, videos and news.
The video, called Red Coat & Red Lipstick, garnered 1,153 views on YouTube and was selected by a diverse jury out of 42 other submissions.
The Bahrain-based 38-year-old quality assurance and control engineer, who goes by @global_citizen_000 on Instagram, is delighted with the achievement. He never thought his poem would win over so many hearts as it did, let alone third place in a mega music video making competition.
“The video came about from a coincidental meet up at 2am,” he explained. “I met these wonderful angels on the street after a night out and they offered to have some snacks with me. I was impressed with their musical skills and asked if they wanted to create something using my poem. The singer, Alice Stehlickova, instantly accepted and using my iPhone and another phone, we captured the video. It was wow. Now, she is one of my best friends.”
The entire video is one clip, without any cuts. The camera operator walked around the group and filmed the ukulele player performing and Alice singing Jairam’s verses.
The video even captured people on a balcony nearby, seven floors above, cheering them on in the process.
A festival representative said on the LMVF site: “Jairam’s Red Coat & Red Lipstick was not staged at all. Not only was the song improvised, but also the composition of the ensemble. This is a significant new step in the history of mankind.”
As for the lyrics, the representative said it talked about a mysterious woman, only identified as wearing a red coat, red lipstick and red heels. She showed up out of nowhere in the streets of Prague and then disappeared.
According to Jairam, the poem was originally inspired by Denisa Yaka, a lady dressed in red that he met at a café in Prague. He found her to be beautiful, smart and confident and says she brings a spark to any ambience. Moved by her life story, within five hours, he composed the poem with the aim of encouraging people to explore the world, make new friends, exchange cultures and spread love.
“You never know who you will meet,” said Jairam, from Manama. “There was a point in my life where I realised I wasn’t really making use of my time. I started to travel and meet people from all over the world. I enjoy learning about different cultures and hearing people’s stories.
“The world is full of awesome people and I believe we should all work together to bring peace, harmony and happiness to everyone as well as make the world a better place for the future generations to come.”
This is one of the main reasons that the jury loved the video.
The representative added on LMVF: “Now, what is the meaning of this music video? Don’t be afraid to talk to strangers. If you talk to strangers, great things can happen. Our verdict is that the music video adds a meaningful story about coming together to the lyrics. It also takes a new step in the history of unplanned music videos and it teaches a lesson on how we can treat one another. Jairam’s music video Red Coat & Red Lipstick is a masterpiece.” The festival is organised and founded by Dietmar, Leon and Daniel Schoder. All the music videos, moderation videos and artist videos were streamed on July 1 and have been online since then.
To watch Jairam’s video, scan the QR code.
