Swarathma (
Kannada
Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...
:) is a
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 ...
(India)-based
Indian Folk/
fusion
Fusion, or synthesis, is the process of combining two or more distinct entities into a new whole.
Fusion may also refer to:
Science and technology Physics
*Nuclear fusion, multiple atomic nuclei combining to form one or more different atomic nucl ...
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), Jishnu Dasgupta (bass guitar and vocals) and Joel Milan Baptist (drums). The band's sound draws from
Indian Folk and
Classical Music
Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...
, blending it with Western sounds like
Blues Rock
Blues rock is a fusion music genre that combines elements of blues and rock music. It is mostly an electric ensemble-style music with instrumentation similar to electric blues and rock (electric guitar, electric bass guitar, and drums, sometimes w ...
and
Reggae
Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...
. Their lyrics are inspired by personal journeys as well as social and political themes.
Swarathma has released two full-length studio albums, the self-titled ''Swarathma'' (2009) and ''Topiwalleh'' (2012) as well as several singles and music videos. They were featured on the cover 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's
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
edition as well on their list of 25 Hottest Indian Bands. They swept the annual
Jack Daniels Indian Rock Awards 2009, winning Band, Song and Album of the Year. They have toured
Morocco
Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...
, the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
,
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
and
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
and are one of India's biggest folk rock bands.
History
Formation and early years
Swarathma was formed in 2002 in
Mysore
Mysore (), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern part of the state of Karnataka, India. Mysore city is geographically located between 12° 18′ 26″ north latitude and 76° 38′ 59″ east longitude. It is located at an altitude of ...
when vocalist and songwriter Vasu Dixit met Abhinanth Kumar on guitars with the objective of creating original music. Joined by K J Pavan on percussions and Arjun on the violin, they were the original line-up. Dixit left in 2003 to pursue a Masters in Film and Video Communication from the
National Institute of Design
The National Institutes of Design (NIDs) are a group of autonomous public design universities in India, with the primary institute, founded in 1961, in Ahmedabad, with extension campuses in Gandhinagar and Bengaluru. The other NIDs are locat ...
,
Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad ( ; Gujarati: Amdavad ) is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 (per t ...
, leading to the band taking a two-year break, but regrouped in 2006 with Montry Manuel on drums.
![Vasu Dixit](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/Vasu_Dixit.jpg)
The first break for Swarathma came when they won ''Radio City Live 2006'', an
SMS
Short Message/Messaging Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile devices exchange short text ...
based contest for Bangalore's best band, conducted by the FM radio station
Radio City on 30 September 2006. The fresh original sound of the band won them the contest coupled with the fact that they played a song ''"Ee Bhoomi"'' (This Earth) in
Kannada
Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...
. The show ended with a jam session with leading Indian rock band
Parikrama
Parikrama or Pradakshina is clockwise circumambulation of sacred entities, and the path along which this is performed, as practiced in the Indic religions - Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism. In Buddhism, it refers only to the path along ...
. Swarathma continued to play shows in and around Bangalore, gaining popularity and building a fan-base, while searching for a record label who would release the band's music.
Owing to other professional commitments, Abhinanth, Arjun and guitar-player Dheeraj Joseph could not continue full-time with the band. Over the year 2007, they were joined by Sanjeev Nayak on the Violin, Varun on lead guitar and Jishnu Dasgupta on bass guitar who earlier played with the band bodhiTree, from
XLRI Jamshedpur. The varying musical backgrounds of the members caused the music to evolve.
The new line-up played at various venues including the prestigious
Mysore Yuva Dasara Habba, the celebrations of the Indian festival Dasara in November 2007. Sharing the stage with other noted artistes like
Usha Uthup
Usha Uthup Iyer (born 7 November 1947) is an Indian pop, filmi, jazz, and playback singer who sang songs in the late 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. "Darling", which she recorded with Rekha Bhardwaj for the film ''7 Khoon Maaf'', won the Filmfare Award ...
, and
Sunidhi Chauhan
Sunidhi Chauhan (pronounced ; born 14 August 1983) is an Indian playback singer. Born in Delhi, she began performing in local gatherings at the age of 5 and made her career debut at the age of 13, with the film ''Shastra'' (1996). During the ye ...
the band was lauded for the strength of the compositions and on-stage energy.
The band was nominated in three of the eight categories of the Jack Daniels Indian Rock Awards 2008, including Best Vocalist, Best Song and Best Album/EP.
This was the first time that a song in Kannada was nominated for such an award.
Swarathma also played at the
Fireflies Festival of Sacred Music
The Fireflies Festival of Sacred Music, previously known as Bhoomi Jathre, is an annual music festival held at the Fireflies Ashram off Kanakapura Road, Bangalore.
The festival
The festival stage is located under a banyan tree in an open-air amp ...
held off Kanakapura Road in Bangalore every year on 23 February 2008. They featured alongside artistes such as
Oikotyaan in the night long festival.
The Swarathma debut album: breaking into the national scene
In early 2008,
Radio City re-launched ''Radio City Live'', a nationwide hunt for India's best
Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
band. Selecting from over 100 entries from bands across India, Swarathma made it to the national finals with a winning performance.
The band flew to New Delhi for its first show outside
Karnataka
Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...
at the
Garden of Five Senses
The Garden of Five Senses is a park in Delhi, India. Spread over 20 acres, the park is located in Saidul Ajaib village, opposite Saket, near the Mehrauli heritage area. Designed by Delhi architect, Pradeep Sachdeva, the park was developed by D ...
. Pitted against six other top bands from across the country, Swarathma delivered a powerful performance that won them the Radio City Live title. In press interviews the band said that it was a combination of theatric showmanship and musical effort that brought them this honour., coupled with the fact that the onstage energy came from close relationships that band-members shared amongst themselves.
Palash Sen
Palash Sen is an Indian singer, songwriter, musician, composer and actor best known as the founder and frontman of India's Rock/Pop band Euphoria (Indian band), Euphoria.
Early life and education
Born to doctors, he comes from a family of Rajv ...
of
Euphoria
Euphoria ( ) is the experience (or affect) of pleasure or excitement and intense feelings of well-being and happiness. Certain natural rewards and social activities, such as aerobic exercise, laughter, listening to or making music and da ...
, one of the judges of the event said, "This is the moment we've all been eagerly been waiting for - Swarathma being declared India's best Hindi Band!". This was one of the band's biggest moments.
Swarathma entered Kshitiz Studios, New Delhi in July 2008 to record their debut album with
EMI Music India as part of winning RC Live with
Amit Kilam
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 until Chakravarty died on ...
as the producer. Being the drummer for Indian Ocean, a band that Swarathma had looked up to since formation, he was able to translate the band's vision onto the CD. However the recording took longer than expected with vocal parts being re-recorded in Bangalore over November 2008. It was mixed at Audio Track, Chennai and mastered by Ty Degroff at The Final Sound, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA.
The debut album released on 5 January 2009 on Virgin Records to mostly positive reviews. The freshness of sound coupled with insightful, sensitive lyrics touching upon subjects as varied as India's economic regeneration and personal journeys made Rolling Stone magazine give it four stars and describe it as "the next level" of Indian rock. The band supported the album with an aggressive tour schedule playing at major Indian cities, despite a freak accident leading to Vasu's shoulder dislocation.
Soundpad album and international acclaim
In March 2008, Swarathma 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
John William Leckie (born 23 October 1949) is an English record producer and recording engineer. His production credits include Magazine's ''Real Life'' (1978), XTC's ''White Music'' (1978) and Dukes of Stratosphear's '' 25 O'Clock'' (1985), t ...
to collaborate and record together in a series of special studio sessions set to take place in India. Leckie was impressed by the band's brand of folk-infused indie-rock describing it as "celebratory, and totally unlike anything you would get in Britain". In October 2008, Swarathma entered the Yash Raj Studios with John Leckie and
Massive Attack
Massive Attack are an English trip hop collective formed in 1988 in Bristol by Robert "3D" Del Naja, Adrian "Tricky" Thaws, Andrew "Mushroom" Vowles and Grant "Daddy G" Marshall.
The debut Massive Attack album ''Blue Lines'' was release ...
producer Dan Austin to record two tracks for a compilation album funded by the
British Council
The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lan ...
. The project also featured Indigo Children, Medusa and Advaita in an effort to showcase the Indian independent music scene. The album released in May 2009 to mixed reviews, however Swarathma received consistently positive feedback owing to the infectious live energy apparent on the recordings. In October 2009, the song "Jamba" from this compilation was picked up by the Music Alliance Pact featuring the top indie songs from 33 countries.
In May 2009 Swarathma went on a mini-tour of the UK in support of the Soundpad album, their first international tour. They played two showcases at
The Great Escape Festival
The Great Escape Festival is a three-day music festival held in Brighton and Hove, England every year in May. It is operated by MAMA Festivals and showcases new music from a variety of genres. The festival was founded in 2006 and roughly hosts ...
, one at The Arc and the other at Horatio's Bar on the Brighton Pier where they managed to get the largely British crowd sing along to Indian lyrics. Those exposed to Swarathma's theatrics-heavy stage act described it variously influenced by
krautrock
Krautrock (also called , German for ) is a broad genre of experimental rock
Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments ...
,
garage punk
A garage is a covered structure built for the purpose of parking, storing, protecting, maintaining, and/or repairing vehicles. Specific applications include:
* Garage (residential), a building or part of a building for storing one or more vehic ...
and ska while reaffirming its earthy appeal.
''Topiwalleh'' (2012)
With a slew of new songs written over the years Swarathma went into studios with producer
Loy Mendonsa
Loy Mendonsa is an Indian music director and part of the Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy trio which consist of himself, Shankar Mahadevan and Ehsaan Noorani. Before becoming a music composer, he played piano and keyboards for famous Indian music compose ...
to record its second album titled ''Topiwalleh.'' The album featured darker overtones and a heavier sound that was positively received. The title song was actively used by the band to speak out against corruption in politics while other songs like ''
'Aaj ki Taaza Fikar'
'' and '
''Ghum'
'' spoke about issues like media sensationalism and child sexual abuse. The band heavily toured with the album winning critical and popular acclaim across the country. Upon the release the band was featured on the cover 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 ...
. Following the release drummer Montry Manuel left the band to pursue his solo percussion project Thaalavattam.
Social consciousness and activism
The band is socially conscious and have taken up causes such as discouraging the use of plastic by promoting cloth shopping bags made by Small Steps, a
Puducherry Puducherry or Pondicherry may refer to:
* Puducherry (union territory), a union territory of India
** Pondicherry, capital of the union territory of Puducherry
** Puducherry district, a district of the union territory of Puducherry
** Puducherry tal ...
based NGO.
In April 2009 they announced that they would be doing one free performance for the underprivileged, or for a cause, for every paid performance they did. This has led them to play at village courtyards and orphanages as well as in aid of NGOs such as the
Indian Youth Climate Network
The Indian Youth Climate Network (IYCN) is a youth organization in India that aims to raise the voice of Indian youth on the global platform, as South Asia is one of the most vulnerable regions affected by climate change and environmental issues. ...
organised
Climate Solutions Road Tour and the Twestival Bangalore that raised INR 30,000 in one afternoon for Dream a Dream Foundation. They also supported the Green Idol campaign of
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 ...
in India by doing street shows to raise awareness about
global climate change
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
.
In January 2010 they launched a series of concerts called Action Replay, which involves performances at venues for people who otherwise cannot access live contemporary music. They performed at the Sumanahalli Leprosy Rehabilitation Centre in Bangalore to raise awareness of a land dispute.
Collaborative musical style
Swarathma is best known for a number of often spontaneous collaborations that they both release and perform live. Their song "Pyaasi" (The Thirsty) features the voice of
Shubha Mudgal
Shubha Mudgal (born 1 January 1959) is an Indian singer of Hindustani classical music. Her repertoire includes the genres of khyal, thumri, dadra, and Indian pop. She has received the Padma Shri in 2000.
Early life
Shubha was born in Allahabad ...
, with whom they also went on to co-write the song 'Duur Kinara'. They collaborated with Lebanese garage-blues act
The Wanton Bishops
The Wanton Bishops is a Lebanese rock music, rock band formed in Beirut, Lebanon in 2011. The group consists of Nader Mansour (vocals, guitar, harmonica, keyboards) and Eddy Ghossein (guitar, backing vocals, banjo). The duo began as an independen ...
to create a music video for their song 'Lay it on Me'. They re-versioned
Ekla Chalo Re, Rabindranath Tagore's iconic song. They were a part of the global
Power to the People project, bringing their Indian folk style to the international collaboration. Various artistes joined the band as guests in performances, notably
saxophonist
The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...
David Moskowicz of
Lyon
Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...
s, France and
Tavil
A ''thavil'' (Tamil language, Tamil:தவில்) or ''tavil'' is a barrel-shaped percussion instrument from Tamil Nadu. It is also widely used in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamilnadu and Telangana States of South India. It is used ...
player Raja of Bull Temple Road, Bangalore. Such varied instruments gave the band a sound unlike any other, while bringing together musicians from backgrounds so diverse that they could not converse with each other, not having a common language. Noted Indian pop-rock singer
Rabbi Shergill
Rabbi Shergill (born Gurpreet Singh Shergill on 16 April 1973) is an Indian musician well known for his debut album ''Rabbi'' and the chart-topper song of 2005, '' Bullah Ki Jaana '' ("I know not who I am!"). His music has been described vario ...
also joined Swarathma on stage at the Nokia Music Connects Conference in September 2009.
TV appearances
On 31 August 2008, Swarathma were featured in an
NDTV India
NDTV India (styled as NDTV इंडिया) is a Hindi news channel in India owned by New Delhi Television Limited.
In June 2016, NDTV decided to launch two separate channels called NDTV India and NDTV Spice in the United Kingdom.
Histor ...
talk show called ''Salaam Zindagi'', that featured well-known Indian bands like Parikrama and
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...
. Swarathma spoke of their journey and plans for the future.
In early October 2008, Swarathma travelled to
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
to perform at a pan-Asian talent showcase called ''Sutasi''. Along with six other Indian acts, Swarathma shared the stage with bands, artists and songwriters from all over Asia. The reality series aired on Zee Cafe in India, and in Sri Lanka and South Korea in June–August 2009.
On 27 November 2011, Swarathma featured in the 7th episode of the
Star World India
Star World is an Indian pay television channel launched on 15 December 1991. Originally scheduled to shut down on 30 November 2021, the shutdown of Star World and its HD feed has been not continued due to the delay of TRAI's new tariff rules. St ...
series ''
The Dewarists
''The Dewarists'' is a musical television series on MTV India. The series is part music documentary and part travelogue. The show casts musicians from various parts of the world, collaborating to create original music while travelling across In ...
'', collaborating with noted
Hindustani classical music
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 ...
singer
Shubha Mudgal
Shubha Mudgal (born 1 January 1959) is an Indian singer of Hindustani classical music. Her repertoire includes the genres of khyal, thumri, dadra, and Indian pop. She has received the Padma Shri in 2000.
Early life
Shubha was born in Allahabad ...
. Together, they produced a track titled "Duur Kinara".
In August 2014, they were featured on Fox Life's ''SoundTrek'', season 2.
In February 2016, the band was featured on ''
MTV Unplugged
''MTV Unplugged'' is an American television series on MTV showcasing musical artists usually playing acoustic instruments. The show aired regularly from 1989 to 1999 and less frequently from 2000 to 2009, when it was usually billed as ''MTV Un ...
'', season 5.
References
External links
*
Interview with Swarathma for www.4ortherecord.com
{{Use British English, date=August 2010
Folk rock groups
Indian rock music groups
Musical groups established in 2002
2002 establishments in Karnataka