Rajashri Venkatesh
In a country where movies are the heart and soul of the entertainment industry, successful band are very rare to find and are highly underrated. Here are few such bands that every music lover must follow!
Avial are an Indian alternative rock band formed in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India in 2003, and known for their Malayalam lyrics. The band initially included lead vocalist Anandraj Benjamin Paul, turntablist and backing vocalist Tony John, guitarist Rex Vijayan, bassist Naresh Kamath and drummer Mithun Puthanveetil. Avial had their first breakthrough with the 2003 single "Nada Nada". They are known for pioneering what they call "Alternative Malayali rock", which is the style of combining Malayalam lyrics and rock music. Their eponymous album got them six out of seven Jack Daniels Rock Awards and Footprints Young Achiever's Award in 2008. The band was praised for achieving mainstream success despite singing in their native language.
Raghupathi Dixit is an Indian singer-songwriter, producer, and film score composer who is the frontman for the Raghu Dixit Project, a multilingual folk music band. Dixit's music is an amalgamation of Indian ethnic music and styles from different parts of the world. His songs include "Mysore se aayi," "Mumbai," "Antaragni," "Hey Bhagwan," "Har Saans Mein," "Gudugudiya," and "Khidki." Dixit has produced music for contemporary dance and theatre productions including the Indian contemporary dance group Nritarutya, of which, his wife, Mayuri Upadhya, is the artistic director.
Tetseo Sisters are a musical act of four sisters from Nagaland, a state in North-East India. They are devoted to the art and tradition of the vocal folk music of the state.
Indian Ocean is an Indian rock band formed in New Delhi in 1990, who are widely recognized as the pioneers of the fusion rock genre in India. Susmit Sen, Asheem Chakravarty, Rahul Ram and Amit Kilam were band members till Chakravarty's death on 25 December 2009, after which Tuheen Chakravorty and Himanshu Joshi were officially inducted into the band as replacements. After the departure of Susmit Sen in 2013, Rahul Ram is the only founding member who appeared on the band's debut album Indian Ocean. Sanjeev Sharma has collaborated with them as lyricist on many Albums.
Swarathma is a Bangalore based Indian Folk/fusion band. The current line up features Vasu Dixit , Pavan Kumar KJ , Varun Murali , Sanjeev Nayak , Jishnu Dasgupta and Joel Milan Baptist. The band's sound draws from Indian Folk and Classical Music, blending it with Western sounds like Blues Rock and Reggae. Their lyrics are inspired by personal journeys as well as social and political themes.
Indus Creed is a rock group based in Mumbai, India. It was founded in 1984 as Rock Machine and renamed in 1993, and included Uday Benegal (vocals), Mark Selwyn (bass), Mahesh Tinaikar (guitars), Zubin Balaporia (keyboards), Mark Menezes (Drums) and Jayesh Gandhi (guitars). It disbanded in 1997, only to regroup in 2010 with some new members.
Cactus is an Indian Bengali rock band from Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Since inception they have recorded four full-length studio albums and have performed over 2500 concerts across India & abroad. The self-titled album and the two later albums combine soft rock, blues and psychedelic rock. But their last album Tuchho which was known to be the best selling album produced by them had the traces of hard rock although two songs Bhalo Theko and Shabdhane Raasta Perio were more like soft rock.
Bhayanak Maut is an Indian Metal band from Mumbai. The band's name was inspired by a B-Grade Hindi horror movie of the same name, which translates to "Horrific Death". Bhayanak Maut have released three albums – Hell Is All People (2004), Untitled (2009) and "MAN" (2014). All the albums were well received by metal fans all over India. Bhayanak Maut have been featured in a compilation album called Fine Tuned Disasters. The album was released on August 6, 2006.
In 2007, Papon formed his folk-fusion band “Papon and The East India Company”.Along with Papon, the band consists of a Bassist, a Guitarist, a Drummer, a World Percussionist and a Keyboardist.
The band has performed live almost at all the music festivals in India, namely the SAARC Bands Festival in New Delhi, the Eastwind Festival, the Kovalam Literary Festival, the October Fest in Bangalore & Hyd, NH7 Weekender in Pune, Bangalore, Kol & Delhi, Sulafest – Nashik, MAD Fest Ooty, Windsong – Goa, STORM fest Coorg & Bangalore, Kasauli Rhythm & Blues Festival. Papon & The EIC also performed at the du WORLD MUSIC FESTIVAL in Dubai. The festival saw performances from Italian singer-song writer/ multi instrumentalist classical soloist Andrea Bocelli, GRAMMY Winner Natalia Cole, Australian Jazz Fusion Guitarist Frank Gambale, famous American rock band Guns & Roses and also Indian bands as Raghu Dixit, Soulmate etc.
Kailasa is an Indian fusion band, founded by Kailash Kher. The name of the band is taken from an accented pronunciation of Kailash's own name as well as Mount Kailash, the abode of Hindu God Shiva. Along with guitars, drums and keyboards, the band incorporates classical Indian instruments and sometimes traditional lyrics into their songs to infuse folk and a Sufi hue.
