GlobeofBlogsIndian Rock Scene–Popular Sub Continent Bands
The Indian Sub Continent has always had a special place at the Music Scene and Rock n Pop are no exceptions! With the encouragement that the educational institutes provide these days, the music hungry folks found it pretty easy to exhibit their talent and thus every college today has its own music band. But some have evolved over the years and have established their place at the top and yeah carry some serious fan following.. And this post is all about some of my favorite picks.
This list includes the College n non-college Rock bands from India
Indian Ocean
Unarguably one of the famous Indian Rock Bands ‘Indian Ocean’ , a contemporary fusion music band was formed by Susmit Sen and Asheem Chakravarthy and later Amit Kilam, Rahul Ram joined the band. Some music critics describe the Indian Ocean music as “Indo-rock fusion with jazz-spiced rhythms that integrates shlokas, sufism, environmentalism, mythology and revolution”.
Desert Rose, Khandisa and Jhini are a work of IO and they have also worked for the Bollywood flick Black Friday!
Parikrama
Parikrama is a Rock and Roll band from India. They have several live performances and original numbers to their name. The band was officially formed on June 17, 1991 in New Delhi.
This band composed the song “The Superhero” for the geeks of Bangalore only recently. This was in due course of the visit of Microsoft’s chairman Bill Gates to the IT capital of India, Bangalore.
A Parikrama original “Rhythm and Blues” was created in course of their jam session with Usha Uthup.
Parikrama has recently released a few more originals like the Lord of the Rings-inspired “Am I Dreaming”, “Tears of the Wizard” and “In the Middle”.
Apart from “But it rained” another Parikrama original called “Vapourize” is a crowd favorite. “Vapourize” is a 7:30 minutes long song and features harmonized Guitar Solos with a Violin Solo.
The band has been performing in many events for quite some time now and some of their recnt performances are listed below..
Parikrama is touring all the Indian metros, with Saif Ali Khan.
Parikrama opened for Iron Maiden on Feb. 1st in Mumbai on the first concert of their Somewhere Back In Time World Tour. This was the fourth time they played alongside Iron Maiden.
On April 27,2008, it performed at ATMATRISHA, the cultural fest of PES Institute of Technology , Bangalore
On the August 15, 2008, it is performing at “Umang“, the college fest of Narsee Monjee College of Commerce and Economics.
In September 08, they performed at RENDEZVOUS 2008, the annual cultural festival of IIT-Delhi, New Delhi.
On October 17, 2008, they performed at the Qurum Amphitheatre, in Muscat, Oman, playing a selection of their own as well as other famous rock hits.
Bhoomi
Bhoomi is a music group based in Kolkata, India. They are a Bangla language band. In July 2006 they became the first Indian band to play at the United Nations.
Since the debut album, they have gone on to play folk songs they wrote which were influenced by influences from western music - like the blues. This is prominent in their song “Bhangor Mohiser Gaan” - a salute to the herdsman’s wife who waits for her husband and cattle’s return from the forests - each day endangered by the threat of wild animals which prey on them both. There were gems from the traditional Baul based minstrel songs - which imparted a spiritual message alongside - like “Emon Manob Jonom” and “Kancha Haarite”.
Touring has been one of their strong points. Soumitra, one of the band’s lead singers, has always stressed on their live performances, which has taken the band on a punishing schedule around the globe. They have played in the USA in four touring seasons - and each time doing a hectic schedule aound the country - initially in California and the Mid-West and then subsequently in various cities on the East Coast. In 2006 they capped off their live performance tour program in the United States with a performance at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, in a special performance for UN Staff. This was their 880th live performance - an incredible achievement for any live band who have resurrected Folk music from its forgotten and dust-gathered past.
Their UN performance resulted in the group penning their first song in English - For a Better Day.
In 2008 Bhoomi was the only Asian Band to perform at the International Jazz Festival at Montreal, Canada.
Insomnia
Insomnia is a Rock band based in Kolkata, West Bengal. The band’s repertoire includes both English and Bangla songs. The band has an album each in English (Cry of the Spirit - self released) and Bangla (Proloyer Shomoye - Asha Audio). Insomnia is one of the most notable new Rock bands from Eastern India for its unique sound, stage presence and bilingual repertoire.
Insomnia plugged in for the first time in 1999 as the South Point High School band. After numerous line up changes the new recruits were all from different schools: Sayantan Neogi (Ninnai) - La Martiniere for boys, Kolkata; Prasenjit Chakrabutty (Pom) - Don Bosco Park Circus; and Souvik Gupta (Savvy) - Nava Nalanda High School. Therefore, unlike popular belief, Insomnia is not an SPHS band even though it started out as one.
Insomnia’s first show as a professional outfit was on 7 July, 2002 in Music World, Park Street. The band has gone through many potentially crippling line-up changes. However against all odds they stuck on and the current line up has been active since the middle of 2005.
Noteworthy performances by the band:
- Insomnia were Eastern Zonal Winners and All – India 2nd Runners up at Castrol Garage Rock, 2003 held in Mumbai
- Insomnia were Finalists at the All – India Rock band competition at Springfest 2003, IIT Kharagpur
Strings(Pakistan)
One of the most Popular Rock bands from Pakistan had first appeared in the film Zinda and have tasted a huge success, prior to making it into Bollywood they have released a few albums like Duur, Strings, Strings2 with Koi Aane Wala Hai as their latest in ‘08.
They hav received many awards and here are a few..
- Won the “Best Artist Award” at MTV Asia Awards.
- Won “The Musik Icon of 2006” award.
- Won an award for “Best Band” at the first Sangeet Awards ceremony held at Royal Albert Hall.
- Won the Indus Music Award 2005 for extensive contribution to the pop music industry.
- Won MTV Asia’s “Most Favourite Band” award 2005.
- Won an award for the “Best Band” at the Third Jazz Indus Music Awards.
- Won an award for the “Best Lyrics’Zinda’” at the Third Jazz Indus Music Awards.
Zeest(Pakistan)
Most Campus Dwellers are aware of the famous ‘B.C Sutta’ ! The overwhelming response that this song received had just threw the band to limelight which is presently working on their new album 100 Rupai.
The band was formed in Karachi, Pakistan in 2003 by Saqib Abdullah a.k.a Skip, who is the singer, songwriter & composer . In 2007 Umair Ghouri officially joined the band. And now Zeest is a duo of both Saqib Abdullah & Umair Ghouri.
I would also suggest you have a sneak at Boditree (An XLRI music Band) as well as Euphoria ( One of the famous Pop bands from India).
The list seems endless coz. every other day a new band seems to make it up and so I have listed the ones that I listen often, choices are open you can comment.!
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