Missing IPL? Likhith Dorbala's Sunrisers Hyderabad theme song is what every fan needs

If it wasn't for the pandemic, the IPL (Indian Premier League) would still be on and Likhith Dorbala's song Orange Army would have caught on like wildfire among the fans of Sunrisers Hyderabad. Composed, written and sung by the budding musician, the song falls under the rock genre and the lyrics are both in English and Telugu. The 21-year-old composed the tune two years ago but got around to writing the lyrics only recently. And while the song was out on Spotify and other platforms on March 27, the video is out too. "Also, watch out for the bridge of the song," says the excited youngster.

Likhith, who pursued his BTech from Joginpally BR Engineering College, has been playing the piano since he was five and even received an award from actor Akkineni Nageswara Rao for a group performance. Since then, he has learnt the piano under various teachers and today, is a grade 7 pianist, certified by Trinity College London. Thanks to the lockdown, he had been more regular with posting instrumentals on YouTube and has amassed a humble 778 subscribers. He is also part of a band called WASP. The band name stands for Woodwinds and Strings with Percussions/Piano. The members are Raghava Sai (flute), Koundinya Pannala (violin), Chandra Mouli (guitar), Meher Sri (percussions) and Likhith. 

Receiving an award from actor Akkineni Nageswara Rao | (Pic: Likhith Dorbala)

Orange Army is the first-ever original song composed by Likhith and the journey of him realising that he can do this started rather spontaneously. "I was listening to Kabhi Jo Badal Barse and randomly started improvising on the tune and it worked out pretty well," narrates the Hyderabad-based youngster, sounding a little surprised himself. "I have two songs and a few instrumentals ready and I aspire to release my first album soon," he shares. The ultimate aim is to score music for films, "The idea is to introduce the Telugu audience to the kind of music they might not have heard before."

Likhith's favourite composers are AR Rahman and Ilaiyaraaja. He is currently learning under Jay Parte

For more on him, check out bit.ly/3d6Wuxr