NEW DELHI: Voices against corruption are in the air. If Anna Hazare voiced his views through a fast, the EKA music trio did it in its own way – through music, reaching and influencing the generation that will work to weed out this menace: the youth.
â€?Satya Mev Jayate’, rendered by the trio in a charged atmosphere was quick to send the message home to the young, who enthusiastically joined in to add their voice.
But EKA’s performance at their alma mater, the Mount St. Mary’s School in Delhi, was also used to cheer Indian Eleven for its spectacular World Cup victory earlier this month with the special Hubba song, â€?Aasra’ for the victims of the dastardly earthquake and tsunami in Japan last month, and â€?Chalte Jaana’ – a song picked by a United Nations agency to promote women’s and children’s Health.
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But the musicians – who performed in aid of Outreach, which is a community and social service initiative of the MSM Delhi school – also entertained those present through an array of other songs including â€?Aaye Tum’ which in a manner thanked those who had come to the concert in support of its cause. Some other popular numbers were â€?Dil kyun Gaya’, â€?Nimboo Pani’, â€?Bag Uthaya’, â€?Jaane Kyun’ and â€?I love you’ and some popular Bollywood numbers.
EKA, who call their music â€?Swatantra Rock’, had hundreds of young people joining in to dance to the foot-tapping music. It was preceded by a band of the present students and another of Ex-Marians.
It was after a gap of more than 15 years that Hitesh and Lokesh (ex-students of MSM), along with their band mate Benny completing the Trio of EKA, went back to the school – from where they trace their roots of music and performance. â€?Eka Back to school’ was a performance spanning 18 years of their musical journey.
MSM’s Alumni includes many heavy duty performers in the music business – including KK, Raghav Sachar, Gaurav Kapur and others. No wonder then that EKA felt privileged and thrilled to give back what the school gave them when they were young.
EKA consists of three seasoned musicians – Benjamine Benny… Pinto on keyboards, Hitesh Rikki… Madan on guitars and vocals, and Lokesh Madan on vocals and bass. The band is based out of Delhi
Hitesh and Benny were with the Euphoria band for 14 and 18 years respectively, while Lokesh has come back to his first love – music – after spending over a decade in the corporate world.
The members of EKA have played for some of the most illustrious bands in the country and have performed at over 2000 concerts in 15 countries and recorded over 100 songs in various capacities. During live gigs, the band delivers high energy and highly engaging performances by blending its originals with classic rock, Sufi and popular Hindi numbers in a unique manner.
In the performance at The Partners’ Forum on Women’s and Children’s Health in November 2010, EKA wove magic with their performance for over 700 key international dignitaries including heads of state, health and development ministers. The Forum was convened by the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health and hosted by the Health and Family Welfare Ministry.
Some other performances include the Indo-Pak peace concert at the UN General Assembly Hall in New York, the Great Wall of China and the Beale Street Music Festival in Memphis in the United States.
They have earlier performed at the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, for a Zee Business reality TV show called Aspire – The Music to Money Challenge. EKA composed, produced and performed the title track for this show, which is currently on air. EKA was on the jury for a few episodes of the programme.
The trio also played at the 41st International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Panaji last year; the PESIT Management College in Bengaluru; “I Am Gurgaon” – a prestigious fund raising event; the Headlining act for Jack Daniels Annual Rock awards 2010 Build-up tour at Hard Rock Cafe, Delhi (in association with Rolling Stone Magazine); and for the 50th Liberation Day celebration in Goa, apart from a French Embassy Fund Raiser for Street Children.
