This will be my 53rd
post. I never imagined that I would end
up writing so many of them. The quality
of writing is another matter. A friend
recently sent me links to his posts. And
that was like someone holding a mirror to me to show how I must come across
when I send these links across to various people. That was the reason, among others, for
cutting the mailing list down.
After pouring my heart out
in the past few posts I intend to write something trivial in this post, bordering
on the banal. This post was inspired by
a nephew, an amazingly bright kid of 11th standard, who has all the
hallmarks of a spaced out prodigy.
Running out of the bath with unwashed soap on him is one example of the
other worldly presence of this bright young man.
Equally my involvement
with the subject of this post started when I was first exposed to one of their
songs by a connection that can be traced back to my failed attempt at playing
father. As many may have noticed much of
my writing in the past few months has been triggered by the pain of that
failure.
Every work of art needs a
muse. I am quite sure that my posts are
no work of art. But they certainly have
a muse, although not the way muses are traditionally understood.
Kerala has always been big
on music, a similarity that they share with Bengalis. I am not sure though that they produce the
kind of seriously rigorous classical music of the level of sophistication that
one sees in Chennai or Hyderabad or even Bangalore or Mysore for that matter.
In recent times
several new bands entered the scene, each introducing a variant of what was
available in the market, mixing a little bit of various other pre-existing
genres.
Agam is a classic example
of this trend. They claim to perform what
they call Progressive Carnatic Fusion Rock.
Their fusion is smooth and seamless, yet they are deeply rooted in
Indian classical music, mostly the Carnatic variety. Listen to this piece for example, which got
me started off on listening to these bands.
And another signature
piece is here.
The best thing about Agam
is the way they work traditional Carnatic pieces into a rock orchestra in the
background. No one else does it as well
as them. I guess they are able to do so
because they seem to know classical music well.
To that extent they literally own the genre they claim to have
created.
I guess the other nice
thing about them is their lead who is quite talented. But as a singer I think Harish is
over-rated. His voice delivers flights
easily. But it is not as solid or
deep as that of many other lead singers.
Listen to this rendition for example where he seems to be out of his
depths (sorry, pun intended.)
The rest of the band is
also mediocre except the lead guitarist.
The drums especially are pedestrian.
The Job Kurian collective is
another band that seems to have caught the fancy of the young adults in Kerala
with Padayaatra. Follow this link to the
listen to the song.
But the rest of their
songs did not catch my fancy. Job is a
good singer. I do not see the band
itself making waves for long.
The whole band movement
seems to have started with Avial. Alas
they are not around any longer. These guys
were truly awesome. Rex Vijayan the lead guitarist is something else. Their drummer is pretty decent.
Overall, the band creates
a terrific pulse even with some ordinary sings.
I guess it is all the result of their lead singer Anand Benjamin Paulraj
(ABP). Listen to these two songs to
understand what I mean. Pay attention to
the lead singer and Rex Vijayan in particular.
The other thing you may
have noticed is the sheer economy of the use of instruments by Avial. It proves something that I believe about
bands. It is not about the number of
instruments in the band. It is how you
bring them together that matters. There
are bands that seem to have so many instruments’ leaving you wonder if they are
all adding to the melody or turning the music into cacophony.
While I do not know why
the band went out of existence, I think the band did not get its lead singer
act together. ABP seems to have migrated to the USA. To get a sense of how critical he was to the
band, watch this video and look at the comments below. You will see that the band lost much of its
mojo with the departure of ABP.
Watch this video at the link below to see how the band mismanaged the lead singer part of its show. The same chekele by Tony is a poor comparison. Also see the comments below where the audience is rooting for ABO. Elsewhere on other videos you read the same refrain - Avail just did not have enough good lead singers. And Tony did not seem to realize that he is not quite the right lead for numbers like chekele where you need the volume of ABP's huge barrel of a torso!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcyhsAho8b0
Watch this video at the link below to see how the band mismanaged the lead singer part of its show. The same chekele by Tony is a poor comparison. Also see the comments below where the audience is rooting for ABO. Elsewhere on other videos you read the same refrain - Avail just did not have enough good lead singers. And Tony did not seem to realize that he is not quite the right lead for numbers like chekele where you need the volume of ABP's huge barrel of a torso!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcyhsAho8b0
For aspiring bands in Kerala
there is much to learn from the history of these bands.
The ruling king of the
pack, going by the number of concerts in and out of Kerala is Thaikkudam
Bridge. While the band has some great guitarists and percussionists, I somehow
never felt lured into wanting to listen to them. The band seems to have no
character that gives them an identity as a brand of music, giving them the appearance
of a music troupe of yesteryears.
Listen to these videos to
understand what I mean.
Thaikkudam is also an
example of a lot of instruments making a lot of noise, leaving you wondering
where the melody is. I keep going back
to Agam’s songs notwithstanding many things about them that could get
better. I just don’t feel the same attraction
towards Thaikkudam
The newest kid on the
block is Masala Coffee. Here are a series of videos of the band.
Masala Coffee seems to
have gone about their entry strategically. They seem to have addressed every
department of their music offering methodically – a deep bench of good lead singers,
good guitarists although there is none that is outstanding, wide range of
percussion and a combination of covers and their own songs.
What is striking about one
of their lead singers, Varun Sunil. This
guy is one helluva versatile fellow.
Just look at the range of things this fellow does.
They also do a decent job
of oscillating between the rapid and the slow numbers.
What I miss in them of
course is a signature that characterises them as a genre, unlike Avial or Agam.
The other interesting
thing about them is their ability to deliver Hindi numbers with nearly the same
authenticity as any North Indian troupe. This is an interesting contrast to the
feeble attempt by Harish of Agam to perform a Hindi song that we saw earlier.
I can go on and on. I must stop for now. God willing I hope to spend more time getting
to know these bands, their origins and their stories for its own sake. There is a veritable explosion on the band
scenes. And with luck I do hope to write
another piece where I sum up my thoughts from listening to these bands for a
long time.
Before I sign off I do
wish you would listen to this song from Prayaan, which does not strike me as
quite a band as in the sense of the others.
But this one song of mine brings me back memories those days when I
started listening to these bands and the circumstances in which I developed a
taste for their music. And this man Jithin Raj really is a gifted singer. Take it from a man who can make out good classical music when he hears it.
Those circumstances
are behind me now, leaving behind just a painful cloud of memories and my love
for these genres of music that I acquired during those days. In my hyperlinked world, these songs will
always short-circuit me back to the memories of those days.
Nanni….Namaskaaram…
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