Five Little Indians ( bn, ফাইভ লিটিল ইন্ডিয়নস), (also known as FLI) was an alternative rock band based in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

. The band was formed in January 2007. Five Little Indians merged melodic rock and a heavier sound with singer-songwriter sensibilities. The band used

Hindustani classical Hindustani classical music is the classical music of northern regions of the Indian subcontinent. It may also be called North Indian classical music or, in Hindustani, ''shastriya sangeet'' (). It is played in instruments like the violin, sita ...

vocals and often mixed

raga A ''raga'' or ''raag'' (; also ''raaga'' or ''ragam''; ) is a melodic framework for improvisation in Indian classical music akin to a musical mode, melodic mode. The ''rāga'' is a unique and central feature of the classical Indian music tradit ...

s with a rock sound.

History

Five Little Indians played its debut show at the Eastwind Festival '08. The band had formed only a few months before. Back at

, the band was featured in ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...

'' for its original sound. Simultaneously, FLI was the band in focus for August 2008 on IndianMusicRevolution. The band played the Calcutta leg of the RSJ Pubrockfest '08, taking the stage after Aurora Jane to a full house at Someplace Else. The band played at Star Theatre, Calcutta as part of INTERface '08, an inter-disciplinary arts festival featuring artistes from

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

, Singapore,

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

and Japan. In November 2008, FLI's original "Screaming at the Sun" saw a worldwide release as part of ''Stupidditties 2'', a compilation of Indian "un-metal" music from , supported by Counter Culture Records. The November issue of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' magazine, India, featured FLI's first single, "Happy Birthday" on its Downloads section, lauding the band's dark, moody sound and offering up a 3½ rating for the song. In early 2009, FLI co-headlined the east zone finals of Campus Rock Idols with Skinny Alley in January. In May, the band, along with Bertie Da Silva and The Supersonics, organised the first chapter of Elektrik Kool Rock Revue, a platform for all-original music showcased in a series of shows. FLI also opened for French chanson-rockers KWAK and was featured as part Littlei's Friday Night Live series at the Big Ben, The Kenilworth. Apart from the 2008 and 2009 editions of the RSJ/Kingfisher Pubrockfest, the band headlined the Autumn Festival 2009 at

Shillong Shillong () is a hill station and the capital of Meghalaya, a Indian state, state in northeastern India, which means "The Abode of Clouds". It is the headquarters of the East Khasi Hills district. Shillong is the list of most populous cities in ...

and then headlined the Hornbill Festival in Kisama,

Kohima Kohima (; Angami Naga: ''Kewhira'' ()), is the capital of the Northeastern Indian state of Nagaland. With a resident population of almost 100,000, it is the second largest city in the state. Originally known as ''Kewhira'', Kohima was founded ...

. In February 2010, the FLI opened for pop singer

Richard Marx Richard Noel Marx (born September 16, 1963) is an American adult contemporary music, adult contemporary and pop rock singer-songwriter. He has sold over 30 million albums worldwide. Marx's Richard Marx (album), self-titled debut album went tri ...

at Rock'N'India,

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

, along with

Swarathma Swarathma (Kannada:) is a Bangalore (India)-based Indian Folk/fusion band. The current line-up features Vasu Dixit (vocals and rhythm guitar), K J Pavan (percussion and vocals), Varun Murali (guitar and vocals), Sanjeev Nayak (violin and vocals ...

, Jaycee Lewis and

Prime Circle Prime Circle are a South African rock band, based in Johannesburg. The band has released 7 studio albums and achieved either gold or platinum status in South Africa. The band has expanded its audience to England and Europe where they are repres ...

from South Africa. FLI also played the

Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by Irving Stowe and Dorothy Stowe, immigrant environmental activists from the United States. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth t ...

Earth Day Earth Day is an annual event on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First held on April 22, 1970, it now includes a wide range of events coordinated globally by EarthDay.org (formerly Earth Day Network) including 1 b ...

Fest in May 2010. In between live performances, Five Little Indians also crafted the soundtrack to ''

Gandu Gandu is a municipality in the state of Bahia in the North-East region of Brazil. Gandu covers , and has a population of 32,596 with a population density of 125 inhabitants per square kilometer. Gandu has its origin as Fazenda Corujão, a farm pu ...

'', the critically acclaimed 2010 feature by Kolkata-based director Q. The independent film went on to bag several awards at the South Asian International Film Festival 2010 at New York. Five Little Indians disbanded in 2011.

Members

* Neel Adhikari: vocals, guitar * Allan Temjen Ao: guitar, backing vocals * Arka Das: drums/percussion * Sayak Banerjee: vocals, guitar * Roheet Mukherjee: bass guitar, vocals

Former members

*Sandip Roy: bass, backing vocals *Rabi L. Roy: bass, backing vocals *Sanket Bhattacharya: bass guitar, vocals

References

External links

Official Five Little Indians websiteInterview with FLIFive Little Indians score Gandu soundtrack

Netherworld

In Shades of Grey
{{DEFAULTSORT:Five Little Indians Musical groups established in 2007 Indian alternative rock groups Musical groups disestablished in 2011 Bengali musical groups