When you think Carnatic music, you think of a musician seated cross-legged, with a sruthi box and maybe a tambura in hand. Agam however, gives you the same song sans the traditional setting and delivers it to you with the punch of rock music.
At their Mahashivrathri concert at Coimbatore'’s Isha foundation, they performed with their characteristic vibrancy and had the audience swaying, as they crooned to ‘Thithithara thithithai thithai thaga thei thei thom’. The response from the audience clearly proved that their music works.
These boys from Bengaluru celebrate both Carnatic and rock with the same reverence and their experiment of fusing the two has been a huge success. They have performed at Mathrubumi Kappa TV; ‘Ooh La La La’, a Tamil music reality show; and MTV’s Coke Studio. Since then, there has been no stopping this seven-member symphony. Excerpts from an interview:
Was Carnatic progressive rock always your genre?
Ganesh: Most of us learnt Carnatic music in our childhood. We were forced to learn it, but it’s paying off now. (smiles)
Praveen: The guitarists were from a metal background so initially, there was some kind of friction in what we wanted to play. But slowly we started appreciating each other’s musical tastes. What we play stems from our individual interests and comes together as Carnatic progressive rock.
What is the audience like for a genre as diverse as this?
Aditya: The beauty of a genre like this is that we have youngsters who are just learning Carnatic, youngsters who like rock music and real purists of Carnatic music appreciating us.
Swamy: You can see the grandson and his grandmother enjoying our concerts. We did not intend this to happen but the diversity of the audience gives us confidence to experiment more. At the end of the day, we need to take our roots to the next generation and make sure that it stands the test of time.
How is a song born in Agam?
Ganesh: It takes a really long time. The biggest critics are inside the band. Unless all the seven-band members agree on the music, it does not go out. There are around 10 to 15 songs that we only play in my car and nowhere else.
Praveen: Also, when the song goes live, we start playing multiple versions. It’s not that once we write it, it’s done. The song keeps evolving.
Ganesh: We never play the song as you hear it on the CD. That is a belief system that Harish (Agam’s lead vocalist) has. So a single person can attend your concert in different places and…
Ganesh: … for sure it’ll be different. We know exactly how some segments will turn out and, for some, we just go with the flow.
What is the creative process behind penning lyrics for your songs?
Swamy: We usually start with the guitar riff, a few musical idioms and then we fit in the words. We don’t start with the lyrics as such.
Ganesh: For example, in ‘Boat Song’, we wanted a catch-hook phrase. And we found one that goes ‘thithithara…’ We froze that and developed the entire song around it.
Agam has a huge fan base. But whose fans are Agam?
Aditya: We are heavily influenced by Dream Theatre, Rush and Iron Maiden.
Praveen: And Carnatic music, of course!
Any particular Carnatic artist?
Siva: Harish (the band’s lead singer). (laughs)
Praveen: We were influenced a lot by Hariharan, Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Mandolin U Srinivas, and sitarist Niladri Kumar.
Swamy: Also Thanjavur S. Kalyanaraman, GNB, Neyveli Santhanagopalan, and the thirumoorthigal of Carnatic music — Tyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshithtar and Syama Sastri — and Swati Thirunal.
A question that you have never been asked?
Praveen: “What happens on stage?” I don’t think, however, that we want to talk about the onstage quirks of playing live. (laughs)
Ganesh: But there is definitely a difference between playing live and recording for a CD. Nobody has asked us why we have not captured the energy, vibe and element of surprise of playing live in a CD. We’re working really hard to fix it in our next album.
Do you find it difficult to survive in a country where music of movies is preferred to independent music?
Praveen: It is definitely evolving. Many pubs in Bangalore promote independent music over Bollywood. I mean, in 2009, I don’t think Agam was even allowed to play just because we played independent music.
Aditya: Since we started out, for better or worse, we have defined the genre of Carnatic progressive rock. Many new bands have taken Agam as inspiration and are creating music that has Carnatic roots and western influences. So if Agam does not evolve, there is a fair chance that we won’t be remembered a decade from now.
That’s a challenge any creative artist needs to deal with — to set the bar high, reinvent and be relevant to people.
