No strident electric guitar. No traditional tunes. No clichéd reproductions of covers. Swarthama's music reflects changing moods with a fiery passion. As the sound checks and Vasu Dixit’s riffs made up for a continuous background score, the interview seemed right out of a video anthology.
Swarathma began to fuse folk tunes with rock way back in 2002 when Vasu and a friend began it as a college band. A designer at heart, Vasu had a leaning towards everything anything Indian and folk, and over time, the band began adding other different flavours by way of members and released their first album in 2009.
“All of us come from different backgrounds. Vasu plays the guitar in a very folkish way while Varun comes from a blues and rock scene. I add a Carnatic touch with my violin while Montry does a lot of fusion music. Jishnu is our bassist while Pavan takes care of percussion. The band is a culmination of styles which can be loosely termed ‘folk fusion’,” violinist Sanjeev Nayak explains.
The band that who travelled to the U.K. last year after its their stint with British Council’s Soundpad, released its their debut album in the U.K. and India. This year too, just back from another tour of the in U.K., the band is y are on a countrywide tour for the October Fest. Being among the few bands who collaborating e with well-known artistes and singers, Varun Murali, the guitarist and Sanjeev feel this that process has helped them learn.
“When you collaborate with musicians such as like Shubha Mudgal, you tend to learn a lot from them, since we are not trained professionals,” We aren’t trained professionals and this process allows us to take something back,” says Sanjeev while Varun adds, “Every other day, you do the same gigs and practice hard but how do you get in new crowds unless you find a new way of playing your song? When you collaborate you learn other many ways of doing things and you feel a that song in a completely new way.” It helps develop the song.”
The Bangalore-based band works continuously on its their compositions, testing it with different elements until the tunes finally click. “We need to be comfortable with the songs. We play it s a few times and then it’s opened to personal interpretations. The song is only complete only after everyone is at home with it. We’re working on our second album now and experimenting with a few tunes,” says Sanjeev.
Swarathma does its bit for charity too, with the band setting aside a small portion of its their paid concerts to self-manage a show at orphanages, old-age homes, blind schools and leprosy centres. “The members in our band are very sensitive to issues and we realised that when we play go to at these places, and play, the response we get is so unbelievable. These people are so happy that someone took time out to come there and play for them,” Varun says, and smiles, “It feels much better than any paid gig.”
