Okay, you all know Spice Girls, Destiny’s Child, Pussycat Dolls and Atomic Kitten, all popular girl bands who have wowed the world with their music. Bangalore also has an all-girl band with a thoroughly local flavour.
The six-member band, Remo’s Muzic Spark, released their first album, Gelati Yennale? (Can I Call You a Friend?) featuring songs written, composed and performed by the members themselves. The members are singer, songwriter and composer, Rekha Mohan (aka Remo), Archana Ravi (Ara), Kushala (Kushi), both on keyboard, Priya on drums and, Shilpa and Prarthana on vocals.
Speaking to The Hindu, Ms. Mohan said: “Usually, we only see male performers in concerts here and even the instruments are played mostly by male members. Though there are [women off and on in bands] the men usually outshine them. We wanted to start a band where everything is managed by women.”
All married too
Apart from breaking the gender barrier, this band has also busted the preconceived notions of ‘just-out-of-college’ female bands: all six are married. “All the members are married and have received enormous encouragement from their husbands,” said Ms. Mohan, whose own spouse is a musician.
For the six women, the band is not their first tryst with the entertainment industry: they had already made their mark in the field, having individually featured in various film songs and teleserial tracks. Remo, who has been singing since she was four, has sung numbers such as “Chinnari Mutta” and songs in the film Hrudaya Bandana with S.P. Balasubramaniam.
She also sang with S. Janaki when she was 12 years old, and worked under music director Hamsalekha as well.
Ms. Ravi has lent her voice to a few songs in the movie Rajanikanta and has also sung for teleserials, while Ms. Prarthana has mainly worked for teleserial soundtracks. Ms. Kushala has sung the title track of the film Eesha and Ms. Shilpa has been featured in songs of the recently released film, Charminar .
Forming the band was a dream come true after a long wait of over two years.
“Though we did receive some encouragement, we were hesitant, because the concept of girl bands is not very popular here,” Ms. Mohan said. However, all six decided to take the plunge.
Speaking about the album Gelati Yennale?, Ms. Mohan said it was released on Valentine’s Day as its theme is love and friendship.
“It is something beyond friendship, but cannot be called as love either. That’s why there is a question being asked through the album. The seven songs explore ideas pertaining to various emotions associated with love and friendship.”
The band is also looking at branching out to other languages, as well as adding more members eventually.
“As of now, we are focussing on Kannada songs,” Ms. Mohan adds.
