It was in 2008 that Technopark broke into the music scene with the launch of Voice of the Park , a music album conceptualised by Technopark employees. In fact, musicians from different companies came together to launch the album featuring seven songs in four languages.
Though no such collaboration happened later, music is very much part of the IT park, especially with Naadam, the music band of Natana, the art-cultural organisation of Technopark, around. Also, many companies on the campus have their own music clubs, some conduct classes in instrumental music for their employees, and there are a few musicians who’ve turned professional, either playing with bands or singing in albums.
Companies such as IBS Software Services, Infosys, Revenuemed India, Speridian Technologies, E-Team Informatica India, PIT Solutions Pvt. Ltd., Allianz, NeST, Tata Elxsi, Softlution Web Technologies, Experion Technologies, Palnar Transmedia, Amtec, RR Donnelley and Toonz Animation have musicians in Naadam, which had a grand outing last year as part of Jalwa, the music-dance-fashion event organised by Natana.
“Technopark is brimming with musicians, be it singers or instrumentalists. The problem is that most of them are unable to devote enough time for their passion owing to their work schedule. Now we’ve nearly 20 active members, of which, say, 10 to 15 regularly come together once in a month for a jamming session,” says Sreehari Narayanan, one of the singers of the band, who had also sung in Voice of the Park . The band is looking for avenues to go professional and perform on more stages.
At Allianz, music is part and parcel of the work as every year at the company’s annual meet a music video is launched. The employees themselves turn singers, composers and even actors in the video. Says Amit Passi, Head of BPO and Director on the Board of Allianz Cornhill Information Services Ltd: “Last year the video was based on heroes; about each of us being a hero in some way or other. This year, it was titled ‘Rise up’. The theme was to rise up and meet the challenges of work and life. Our colleagues in the United Kingdom enjoyed the video so much last year that this year we translated the portions in Hindi into English and subtitled it for their benefit. It is a matter of pride that it was written, composed and produced by our staff with little professional help from outside.”
The company also has its rock band, Vertigo, which was launched in 2007. “The big break came when we opened the concert of Black Rust at Nishagandhi in 2010. People have left and new names have joined,” says Arun Datt, a member of the band, who also played Voice of the Park .
Meanwhile, UST Global has Navrus, which holds music-based programmes once in every quarter. The events are taken very seriously, since the core group of Navrus selects the participants only after conducting proper auditions, be it in singing or playing an instrument. The response is always huge for the auditions, with the number even crossing 100 at times, says an employee.
In addition, there are a host of musicians who’ve turned pro. Ben Sam Jones with Experion is an established guitarist now and a member of the band Vidwan (which played the opening sound track of the movie, Romans ); Arun Datt, who was with the band Soulburn, has played for the movie Friday , Sreehari has sung in a bunch of Malayalam albums; Govind P.N. (Experion) and Jayadevan (Palnar Transmedia) are also active in the music circuit…
It is a universal belief that music heals and relieves stress. That is why many companies such as Infosys, UST and Allianz have music clubs and even hold music classes.
