Author Archives: Shubhodeep Datta
Hindi Rock already enjoys a lot of popularity and it is particularly hard not to feel queasy when a band proclaims itself to be Hindi Progressive Rock. The long-haired, Lamb of God loving dudes when made aware of their earthly Indian roots, can yield results that can be quite a mess. Stereotypes are a plenty and this is what Coshish shuns through their concept album Firdous. How successfully, remains a contentious question! Coshish is a four-piece band from Mumbai with Hamza Kazi on drums, Anish Nair on bass, Mangesh Gandhi on guitar and vocals and Shrikant Sreenivasan on lead guitars. Coshish, with their debut Firdous makes a dexterous attempt to fuse their eastern and western influences, encompassing everything from…
Software engineers by day and musicians by evening or at least over the weekend – such is the story of Agam. Formed in 2006, following a few compositions (which were mere experiments then) by a bunch of friends in an apartment studio, Agam has become a powerful force with their brand of music since then. This Bangalore-based ensemble features Harish on vocals, Praveen on lead guitars, Swamy on keyboards, Vignesh on bass guitar, Jagadish on rhythm guitars, Ganesh on drums and Sivakumar on ethnic percussions. From winning a musical reality show helmed by maestro A. R. Rahman himself to collaborating with Shreya Ghoshal, the band has had a glorious journey thus far. Though, a performance…
A rather exuberant fan from the land of Punjab wearing his newly bought shirt that screamed Indian Ocean was humming the Bengali lyrics and eventually came out flashing his devil horns when the ensemble played a song that talked about Lord Buddha’s journey. Contrasting sensibilities or just defying odds? Indian Ocean’s journey, that spans more than two decades, has been about the duel between the two with latter being the worthy champion. Starting off at a time with a dearth of ears for “band music” leave alone semi-classical instrumentals, Indian Ocean has come a long way from defying the gravest of odds to be the cornerstone of India’s indigenous independent artistes. In heart of upscale…
The lead vocalist made his way onto the stage wearing his blue socks and red sneakers- green laces on the left boot and yellow on the right, a green satin dhoti to go with a red top. The bassist was donning one of his many frilly Rajasthani Kurtas and the violinist his glittery suit and white Jodhpuri trousers. Clad in a flowery shirt with shiny purple bellbottoms, the percussionist cum vocalist seemed to have made his way straight out of the sets of a 70s Bollywood movie. The guitarist though, was making a statement with his long locks rather than with his motley robe he usually wears. A diminutive figure with a huge gleaming smile…
