Mohd Amir Iqram, 22 • Musician

Before you recognize the name, you’d recognize the hair. Mohd Amir Iqram is more popularly known as Bo in the music circle and while he isn’t exactly a freshie in the scene, he’s always been a little under the radar and precisely why he’s a finalist for this year’s awards – we think he should be bigger.

As a musician, Bo can make ‘versatile’ his middle name. The number of projects he’s currently developing will be testament of that. When he was 15, he joined the jazz/sax rock band Seven – they’re still together and currently recording. He was also part of Cosmicspacemunkys, the champions of Heineken Thirst Studio in 2006.

His prize was the chance to learn from producer Paul Epworth, who has worked with acts like Bloc Party, Kate Nash and Babyshambles. “I learned how to not be a stuck-up producer from Paul; to always try new things and realize there’s something new to learn,” Bo says of that experience.

He’s taken those lessons and applied them to his other project, Grandeur of Decibel which he cites as his personal take on what dance music is about. The tracks under that name showcase his other side as a producer. But before you can label Bo as a musician whose strengths lie in dance or upbeat music, he surprises you with yet another venture: Bedroom Sanctuary. Here, everything is raw and stripped of pretentiousness, bringing out the honest, vulnerable facet of the musician. As Bo puts it himself, as a musician, he’s “many different people at one time”. Schizophrenia never sounded better.

bo • dayn • helena • jana • jordan • justin • michelle • priya • raj • sandee