MUMBAI: Ruling the Indian rock band music scene for 28 years, band Parikrama has literally ‘lived’ their journey to the fullest. Hailing from Delhi, these musical minds officially announced themselves on 17 June 1991 and since then have performed at high-end gigs nationwide.
“We have the same passion, same fun, that happens even now. It doesn’t feel like it’s been 28 years,” said a 49-year-old Subir Malik (organist, synthesizer of the band).
Drawing inspiration from bands like Pink Floyd, Parikrama released approx 70-80 original compositions live and were well-acclimatized to the live music culture. But, with the passage of time, they started catching up with the present gig scenario and of course the ‘fast-paced digital world.
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Malik explained the above narrative, “Earlier people used to come to a concert and make their decision to following you or not, but now younger kids will watch you digitally on their devices and then make a decision.”
He highlights how a ‘visual appeal’ has become really important for this generation. Moreover, the band feels the need to bring about a change in themselves to get closer to their audiences.
“People these days are releasing a lot of content on YouTube that could easily go unnoticed. Earlier, we were not giving anything to our younger generation to listen and follow Parikrama, but now, we are changing tracks to reach out to far more audiences.”
“We are doing more college gigs and working on recording our songs professionally,” added Malik.
Now the band has their music all over music streaming apps. “Our industry started changing and we too started to make changes in our music,” said Malik who ran into a nostalgia.
Recollecting the good old days when the nation grooved to voices like Lucky Ali, and many rock bands, he quizzed, “But what happened to that phase?”
“There came an abundance of mediocre music into the market that the classics started phasing out,” said a nostalgic Malik.
Amidst humongous music talent that’s growing each day, Parikrama stands true to its roots.
On being quizzed if they feel the ‘competition pressure’, he explained, “We never actually thought of competition is because we are a different beat and believe in ‘more the merrier’. For us it’s live and let live. We have never come to a rehearse hall and discussed something else, it’s always a discussion about our own thing that is the rule we made.”
Parikrama believes going against the tide, creating magic on stage by dropping original music live, “Starting off as a live band, honestly, we did not like going to the studios and did not record our music as much as we should have. The reason being, we enjoyed releasing and playing music ‘live’ in front of our fans,” added Malik.
Besides, on the work front, Parikrama’s new song Tears of The Wizard, inspired by The Lord Of The Rings film, is something that they are proud of. The band has dropped a song after a gap of 20 years. No wonders as this is the first-ever video of an English rock band to be fully sponsored by a state govt.
“The wizard in Lord Of The Rings is Gandalf the great, the song is based on him,” explained Malik.
Click here to view the track:
Also Read: Parikrama: The ‘big daddies’ of Indian Rock release first official video in twenty years!
On their gig front, the band recently performed at Finch Bombay. They are also busy recording six other songs, which will be releasing soon.
