Seven songs with seven different artistes across a variety of genres like blues, jazz, Carnatic, folk, rock and Hindustani — Tandanu, Indian Ocean’s latest album is not just a tribute to music but also a celebration of 25 years of the band.
The band’s seventh studio album, this is a collection of songs that Indian Ocean worked on at different points of time in the last 10 years. “The songs have been put together in collaboration with other artistes, who have lent their own unique touch to the compositions,” says bass guitarist Rahul Ram.
Besides the members of the band, Tandanu features Shankar Mahadevan, Shuba Mudgal, Vishal Dadlani, Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Karsh Kale, Selva Ganesh and Kumaresh (of Ganesh-Kumaresh). “All these people said ‘let’s do it!’ when we approached them. There was no talk of what they will get out of this or no questions about how much time they would have to give,” says Rahul. “They are all technically more competent than we are and yet collaborated so beautifully with us.”
The title track of the album, which Indian Ocean and Shankar Mahadevan perform together, is a folk song of Karnataka that Rahul picked up from his aunt. “During the freedom struggle my aunt used to sing folk songs with her sisters. I heard the song first when I was probably three years old and it has stayed in my head all these years,” he adds. The Indian Ocean version of Tandanu, is still only a part of the whole song. “It’s twice as long,” laughs Rahul.
With a new guitarist at the helm, the band feels that their sound, while still retaining its signature style, now has an interesting mix to it. “The album has two songs in collaboration with Carnatic artistes. That apart, Nikhil Rao, our guitarist, has a flair of classical music and it shows in his riffs,” says Rahul.
Indian Ocean launches Tandanu on Pepsi MTV Indies. Every Saturday, one song from the album will be released as a half-hour episode.
Besides the members of the band, Tandanu features Shankar Mahadevan, Shuba Mudgal, Vishal Dadlani, Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Karsh Kale, Selva Ganesh and Kumaresh
