MUMBAI: After winning Radio City’s band hunt RC Live last year, Bangalore based Swarathma bagged an album release contract with EMI after which there has been no looking back.
Within the span of a year, Swarathma have launched their self titled debut album with eight original compositions, seven Hindi and one Kannada.
The debut album is infused with its own unique musical identity, “We had no particular ‘sound’ in mind when we started recording, and we are more of a ‘live’ act, so we wanted a similar ambience. However, recording in the studio was quite a challenge as we were new to many things,” said Jishnu Dasgupta, Bass Guitarist, Swarathma. “It’s challenging to play live drums, one needs a good studio and good technicians, we didn’t choose to computerise it, more importantly because live drums gives the fellow musicians a ‘live’ experience while recording,” feels drummer and percussionist Montry Manuel.
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Backed by Radio City and EMI Virgin Records, the band spent around six months working on the self-titled album produced by Amit Kilam of Indian Ocean “It was such a privilege working with a musician of his stature.” said Dasgupta. Each song is unabashedly Indian and showcases brutally honest song-writing, conveying a message along with deeply felt emotions however trivial or deep, “Our song writing is very basic, we relate to things that every common man relates to, it may not be ‘issues’ always – just things which are simple” feels Dasgupta. “You may not subscribe to our thoughts or agree to what we say, but we want to be known as band that ‘thinks’,” he adds.
Besides their music, Swarathma is known for their fiery cocktail of crackling on-stage energy and heady folk-fusion. “The steed and the colorful outfits is Vasu’s idea,” says Dasgupta. “We have fun on the stage – the listeners, like us find it quite amusing as Vasu goes around with his steed,” he says
The journey took a pleasant turn for the band after they were chosen as one of the four Indian acts to be part of the India Soundpad Sessions – a project bringing together emerging artistes from India and UK’s top producer John Leckie to collaborate and record together in a series of special studio sessions set to take place in India. Later, the band entered the Yash Raj Studios with John Leckie and Massive Attack producer Dan Austin to record two tracks for a compilation album funded by the British Council. “As musicians this was a quantum jump,” admits Pavan Kumar, percussionist and backing vocalist of the band.
In early October 2008, Swarathma traveled to Singapore to perform at the pan-Asian talent showcase called Sutasi. Along with six other Indian acts, Swarathma shared the stage with bands, artistes and songwriters from all over Asia. Very few bands in India have garnered the kind of success Swarathma has got, and one wonders if anything has changed for the band. “It would be criminal to be different in any way after releasing an album,” Dasgupta is quick to add
Like most bands, Swarathma also went through line-up changes after its inception in 2002. “Owing to other professional commitments, some members could not continue full-time with the band.” said Dasgupta.
Swarathma now comprises Vasu Dixit, lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist, Jishnu Dasgupta, (Bass and backing vocals), Pavan Kumar (percussions and backing vocals), Sanjeev Nayak on the violin, Montry Manuel – Drums and percussions and Varun – on the guitars.
