(I published this earlier elsewhere in July 2014)
Kerala has always been big on music, a similarity that they share with Bengalis. I am not sure though that they produce the kind of seriously rigorous classical music of the level of sophistication that one sees in Chennai or Hyderabad or even Bangalore or Mysore for that matter.
But in recent times several new bands entered the scene, each introducing a variant of what was available in the market, mixing a little bit of various other pre-existing genres.
Agam is a classic example of this trend. They claim to perform what they call Progressive Carnatic Fusion Rock. Their fusion is smooth and seamless, yet they are deeply rooted in Indian classical music, mostly the Carnatic variety. Listen to this piece for example, which got me started off on listening to these bands.
And another signature piece is here.
The best thing about Agam is the way they work traditional Carnatic pieces into a rock orchestra in the background. No one else does it as well as them. I guess they are able to do so because they seem to know classical music well. To that extent they literally own the genre they claim to have created.
I guess the other nice thing about them is their lead who is quite talented. But as a singer I think Harish is over-rated. His voice delivers flights easily. But it is not as solid or deep as that of many other lead singers. Listen to this rendition for example where he seems to be out of his depths (sorry, pun intended.)
The rest of the band is also mediocre except the lead guitarist. The drums especially are pedestrian.
The Job Kurian collective is another band that seems to have caught the fancy of the young adults in Kerala with Padayaatra. Follow this link to the listen to the song.
But the rest of their songs did not catch my fancy. Job is a good singer. I do not see the band itself making waves for long.
The whole band movement seems to have started with Avial. Alas they are not around any longer. These guys were truly awesome. Rex Vijayan the lead guitarist is something else. Their drummer is pretty decent.
Overall, the band creates a terrific pulse even with some ordinary songs. I guess it is all the result of their lead singer Anand Benjamin Paulraj (ABP). Listen to these two songs to understand what I mean. Pay attention to the lead singer and Rex Vijayan in particular.
The other thing you may have noticed is the sheer economy of the use of instruments by Avial. It proves something that I believe about bands. It is not about the number of instruments in the band. It is how you bring them together that matters. There are bands that seem to have so many instruments leaving you wonder if they are all adding to the melody or turning the music into cacophony.
While I do not know why the band went out of existence, I think the band did not get its lead singer act together. ABP seems to have migrated to the USA. To get a sense of how critical he was to the band, watch this video and look at the comments below. You will see that the band lost much of its mojo with the departure of ABP.
Watch this video at the link below to see how the band mismanaged the lead singer part of its show. The same chekele by Tony is a poor comparison. Also see the comments below where the audience is rooting for ABP. Elsewhere on other videos you read the same refrain - Avial just did not have enough good lead singers. And Tony did not seem to realize that he is not quite the right lead for numbers like chekele where you need the volume of ABP's huge barrel of a torso!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcyhsAho8b0
Watch this video at the link below to see how the band mismanaged the lead singer part of its show. The same chekele by Tony is a poor comparison. Also see the comments below where the audience is rooting for ABP. Elsewhere on other videos you read the same refrain - Avial just did not have enough good lead singers. And Tony did not seem to realize that he is not quite the right lead for numbers like chekele where you need the volume of ABP's huge barrel of a torso!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcyhsAho8b0
For aspiring bands in Kerala there is much to learn from the history of these bands.
The ruling king of the pack, going by the number of concerts in and out of Kerala is Thaikkudam Bridge. While the band has some great guitarists and percussionists, I somehow never felt lured into wanting to listen to them. The band seems to have no character that gives them an identity as a brand of music, giving them the appearance of a music troupe of yesteryears.
Listen to these videos to understand what I mean.
Thaikkudam is also an example of a lot of instruments making a lot of noise, leaving you wondering where the melody is. I keep going back to Agam’s songs notwithstanding many things about them that could get better. I just don’t feel the same attraction towards Thaikkudam.
The newest kid on the block is Masala Coffee. Here are a series of videos of the band.
Masala Coffee seems to have gone about their entry strategically. They seem to have addressed every department of their music offering methodically – a deep bench of good lead singers, good guitarists although there is none that is outstanding, wide range of percussion and a combination of covers and their own songs.
What is striking about one of their lead singers, Varun Sunil. This guy is one helluva versatile fellow. Just look at the range of things this fellow does.
They also do a decent job of oscillating between the rapid and the slow numbers.
What I miss in them of course is a signature that characterises them as a genre, unlike Avial or Agam.
The other interesting thing about them is their ability to deliver Hindi numbers with nearly the same authenticity as any North Indian troupe. This is an interesting contrast to the feeble attempt by Harish of Agam to perform a Hindi song that we saw earlier.
I can go on and on. I must stop for now. God willing I hope to spend more time getting to know these bands, their origins and their stories for its own sake. There is a veritable explosion on the band scene. And with luck I do hope to write another piece where I sum up my thoughts from listening to these bands for a long time.
Nanni….Namaskaaram…
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