Swarathma
Encyclopedia
Swarathma is a Bangalore
(India) based Indian Folk
/fusion
band. The current line up features Vasu Dixit (vocals and rhythm guitar), Pavan Kumar KJ (percussion and backing vocals), Montry Manuel (drums), Varun (lead guitar), Sanjeev Nayak (violin) and Jishnu Dasgupta (bass guitar and backing vocals).
They released their debut album on Virgin Records on 5 January 2009, supporting it with a nationwide tour. They were featured on the Soundpad compilation of indie-Indian music that released in May 2009, in support of which they toured the UK along with three other Indian bands.
, Ahmedabad
, leading to the band taking a two-year break, but regrouped in 2006 with Montry Manuel on drums.
The first break for Swarathma came when they won Radio City Live 2006, an SMS
based contest for Bangalore's best band, conducted by the FM radio station Radio City
on 31 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, the local language of Bangalore. The show ended with a jam session with leading Indian rock band Parikrama. 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
, and Sunidhi Chauhan
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 held off Kanakapura Road in Bangalore every year on 23 February 2008. They featured alongside artistes such as Oikotyaan
in the night long festival.
In early 2008, Radio City
re-launched Radio City Live, a nation-wide hunt for India's best Hindi
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
at the Garden of Five Senses
. 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
of Euphoria
, 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 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.
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
producer Dan Austin to record two tracks for a compilation album funded by the British Council
. 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
, one at The Arc and the other at Horatios Pub 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
, garage punk
and ska while reaffirming its earthy appeal.
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
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
in India by doing street shows to raise awareness about global climate change.
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 around the land dispute that ongoing.
David Moskowicz of Lyon
s, France and Tavil 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
also joined Swarathma on stage at the Nokia Music Connects Conference in September 2009.
program called Salaam Zindagi. In this talk show that featured well-known Indian bands like Parikrama and Indian Ocean
. Swarathma spoke of their journey and plans for the future. In early October 2008, Swarathma travelled to Singapore
to perform at the a 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. The reality series aired on Zee Cafe in India, and in Sri Lanka and South Korea in June–August 2009.
Bangalore
Bengaluru , formerly called Bengaluru is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bangalore is nicknamed the Garden City and was once called a pensioner's paradise. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore is India's third most populous city and...
(India) based Indian Folk
Indian folk music
Indian folk music is diverse because of India's vast cultural diversity. It has many forms including bhangra, lavani, dandiya and Rajasthani. The arrival of movies and pop music weakened folk music's popularity, but cheaply recordable music has made it easier to find and helped revive the traditions...
/fusion
Fusion (music)
A fusion genre is music that combines two or more styles. For example, rock and roll originally developed as a fusion of blues, gospel and country music. The main characteristics of fusion genres are variations in tempo, rhythm, i a sometimes the use of long musical "journeys" that can be divided...
band. The current line up features Vasu Dixit (vocals and rhythm guitar), Pavan Kumar KJ (percussion and backing vocals), Montry Manuel (drums), Varun (lead guitar), Sanjeev Nayak (violin) and Jishnu Dasgupta (bass guitar and backing vocals).
They released their debut album on Virgin Records on 5 January 2009, supporting it with a nationwide tour. They were featured on the Soundpad compilation of indie-Indian music that released in May 2009, in support of which they toured the UK along with three other Indian bands.
Formation and Early Years
Swarathma was formed in 2002 in Mysore when vocalist and songwriter Vasu Dixit met Abhinanth Kumar on guitars with the objective of creating original music. Joined by Pavan Kumar KJ 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 DesignNational Institute of Design
The article for the postgraduate campus can be found at National Institute of Design Gandhinagar and National Institute of Design BangaloreNational Institute of Design is a design school in India. The institute functions as an autonomous body under the Department of Industrial Policy and...
, Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad also known as Karnavati is the largest city in Gujarat, India. It is the former capital of Gujarat and is also the judicial capital of Gujarat as the Gujarat High Court has its seat in Ahmedabad...
, leading to the band taking a two-year break, but regrouped in 2006 with Montry Manuel on drums.
The first break for Swarathma came when they won Radio City Live 2006, an SMS
SMS
SMS is a form of text messaging communication on phones and mobile phones. The terms SMS or sms may also refer to:- Computer hardware :...
based contest for Bangalore's best band, conducted by the FM radio station Radio City
Radio City (India radio station)
Radio City is a FM radio station in India. It broadcasts on 91.1 megahertz from Mumbai , Bangalore , Lucknow and New Delhi. It plays Hindi songs, English and regional songs. It was launched in Hyderabad in March, 2006 , in Chennai on July 7th 2006 and in Vishakapatnam October 2007...
on 31 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, the local language of Bangalore. The show ended with a jam session with leading Indian rock band Parikrama. 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
XLRI
The XLRI School of Business and Human Resources, Jamshedpur is a graduate business school in Jamshedpur, India. Established in 1949, XLRI is arguably the oldest business school in India and is regarded as consistently among the top 5 business schools of the country...
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
Mysore Dasara
Mysore Dasara is the Nadahabba of the state of Karnataka. It is also called Navaratri and is a 10-day festival with the last day being Vijayadashami, the most auspicious day of Dasara. Dasara usually falls in the month of September or October...
, the celebrations of the Indian festival Dasara in November 2007. Sharing the stage with other noted artistes like Usha Uthup
Usha Uthup
Usha Uthup is a popular Indian pop, jazz and playback singer. She is well known for popular hits in the late 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.She started her Bollywood playback career, when she sang an English verse in hit song, "Dum maro dum"" in Hare Rama Hare Krishna, and went on work with music...
, and Sunidhi Chauhan
Sunidhi Chauhan
Sunidhi Chauhan is an Indian playback singer, best known for her Hindi film songs in Bollywood. She has also recorded songs for Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Bengali, Assamese and Gujarati films and is credited with over 2000 songs....
the band was lauded for the strength of the compositions and on-stage energy.
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 held off Kanakapura Road in Bangalore every year on 23 February 2008. They featured alongside artistes such as Oikotyaan
Bonnie Chakraborty
Bonnie Chakraborty was the lead vocalist of Kolkata based band Krosswindz until 1998. He did four Bengali albums during that time time.Bonnie coupled with Neil Mukherjee and formed a band named Kashti which was promoted by Zee Music. The album had eight songs. This album came and went off unnoticed...
in the night long festival.
The Swarathma Debut Album: Breaking into the National Scene
Radio City (India radio station)
Radio City is a FM radio station in India. It broadcasts on 91.1 megahertz from Mumbai , Bangalore , Lucknow and New Delhi. It plays Hindi songs, English and regional songs. It was launched in Hyderabad in March, 2006 , in Chennai on July 7th 2006 and in Vishakapatnam October 2007...
re-launched Radio City Live, a nation-wide hunt for India's best Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
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
Karnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...
at the Garden of Five Senses
Garden of Five Senses
The Garden of Five Senses is a park spread over 20 acres, in Saidul Ajaib village, opposite Saket, near the Mehrauli heritage area in Delhi, India. The park was developed by Delhi Tourism and Transportation Development Corporation , Government of Delhi at a cost of Rs 10.5 crore, over a period of...
. 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
Palash Sen is an Indian doctor turned lead vocalist of the Indian band Euphoria, and also a songwriter.-Early life and education:He was born to Dr Rupendra Kumar Sen and Dr Pushpa Sen on 23 September 1965. He is a half Bengali and half Dogra, was born in Banaras, and brought up in Delhi, staying in...
of Euphoria
Euphoria (Indian band)
Euphoria , is an Indian rock band from the city of Delhi, India.-Films:The band has composed the soundtrack for a Malayalam film named Best of luck .-Albums:* 1998 - Dhoom* 2000 - Phir Dhoom* 2003 - Gully* 2006 - Mehfuz* 2008 - ReDhoom...
, 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
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
as part of winning RC Live with Amit Kilam 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 LeckieJohn Leckie
John Leckie is a British music producer, notable for producing many high-profile albums such as The Stone Roses's debut and Radiohead's The Bends...
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
Massive Attack are an English DJ and trip hop duo from Bristol, England consisting of Robert "3D" Del Naja and Grant "Daddy G" Marshall. Working with co-producers, as well as various session musicians and guest vocalists, they make records and tour live. The duo are considered to be of the trip...
producer Dan Austin to record two tracks for a compilation album funded by the British Council
British Council
The British Council is a United Kingdom-based organisation specialising in international educational and cultural opportunities. It is registered as a charity both in England and Wales, and in Scotland...
. 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
The Great Escape Festival is a major music festival that covers all genres of music and is held in the city of Brighton every year over 3 days in May. The dates for 2012 are May 10th to 12th. It kick starts the festival season, introducing 15,000 music lovers to the key artists and sounds of the...
, one at The Arc and the other at Horatios Pub 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
Krautrock is a generic name for the experimental music scenes that appeared in Germany in the late 1960s and gained popularity throughout the 1970s, especially in Britain. The term is a result of the English-speaking world's reception of the music at the time and not a reference to any one...
, garage punk
Garage punk
Garage punk is a fusion of garage rock and punk rock. It is fast-paced lo-fi music characterized by a dirty, choppy guitar sound—usually played by bands who are on independent record labels or who are unsigned...
and ska while reaffirming its earthy appeal.
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 Pondicherry 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
Indian Youth Climate Network
The Indian Youth Climate Network refers to an youth organizations 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 potentially catastrophic climate change & environment issues.IYCN members work to generate...
organised Climate Solutions Road Tour
Climate Solutions Road Tour
Climate Solutions Road Tour, held between January 2 and February 4, 2009, was a project initiated by the Indian Youth Climate Network which started off at Chennai, India...
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
Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
in India by doing street shows to raise awareness about global climate change.
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 around the land dispute that ongoing.
Collaborative Musical Style
Various artistes joined the band as guests in performances, notably saxophonistSaxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
David Moskowicz of Lyon
Lyon
Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....
s, France and Tavil 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
Rabbi Shergill in Jatt Sikh family is an Indian musician well known for his debut album Rabbi and the chart-topper song of 2005, "Bulla Ki Jaana"...
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 IndiaNDTV India
NDTV India is a premier Hindi language news channel in India that is owned by New Delhi Television Ltd. Noted journalist Vinod Dua has been associated with this channel.-History:...
program called Salaam Zindagi. In this talk show that featured well-known Indian bands like Parikrama and Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean (band)
Indian Ocean are an Indian rock band formed in New Delhi in 1990. They are considered to be the pioneers of fusion rock genre in India. Susmit Sen, Asheem Chakravarty, Rahul Ram and Amit Kilam formed the most stable and successful line-up in the band's timeline. This line-up lasted till Asheem's...
. Swarathma spoke of their journey and plans for the future. In early October 2008, Swarathma travelled to Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
to perform at the a 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. The reality series aired on Zee Cafe in India, and in Sri Lanka and South Korea in June–August 2009.