Swarathma

I heard a band called ‘Swarathma’ a few weeks ago and really liked their act. Note, I said their act, which is much more than just their music, for these guys are entertainers and have to be watched on-stage. Part of the experience of listening to ‘Swarathma’ consists of their music, which is an eclectic mix of rock, Indian folk music, Carnatic and jazz. Their on-stage attire (as you can see in this poster) is as varied as the sources of their style of music and adds to the ‘rock mela’ effect of their sound; ditto for Vasu’s on-stage antics and dances such as the prance in the ghodi costume.

The sarcastic commentary on contemporary social and political issues ensures that one listens carefully to the lyrics song after song, especially to guitarist Jishnu’s introductions and interjections, delivered in an absolutely brilliant dehati accent.














p.s. Links to some of their songs below :
‘Topiwale’ – about politics and politicians; 'Yeshu Allah Krishna' - about religion and ‘devotional athyachaar’ (wish I had thought of this phrase);'Ee Bhoomi' - here and here; and
‘Jaane kahan hai mujhe’

Information from Wikipedia for those who want to know more about the band :

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).


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 September 31, 2006[4]. 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

They released their debut album on Virgin Records on January 5, 2009, supporting it with a nationwide tour. They were featured on the Soundpad compilation of Indian music that released in May 2009, in support of which they toured the UK along with three other Indian band.