CHENNAI: All the way from a place called Kalimpong, Darjeeling (the lap of the Himalayas), this threepiece band bonded over their love for hip pop and rock. They call themselves the M.A.D Project. Why MAD though? We ask them. “We always wanted to ‘Make A Difference’ in the society through music and we named ourselves MAD. It’s also the fi rst letter of our names,” smiles Avinash Ghimiray. With Avinash on bass, Dibyas Bardewa on guitar and Mingma Tamang on drums, they got together recently in December 2016.
Before MAD was formed, the artistes were performing with other bands. “Music is more of a universal language and our main aim is to use it to spread awareness on social issues,” he shares. Pointing out that Sikkim has a population of six lakh and around 377 people commit suicide every year because of depression and drug overuse, Avinash says, “We do our bit by spreading awareness through our songs; that’s our weapon. We make sure we keep it as subtle and sarcastic as possible.
And we write it in our language — Nepali, and also English so that it reaches a larger number.” He adds that their latest performance was on the issue of suicide. With more than 20 years in the music industry, the three call themselves the improvisational band. “We are jazzbased, and sometimes play metal too. We believe in composing our own music all the time,” he smiles. Ask them about their best performance so far and an excited Avinash shares, “It was a midnight show, in a small valley called Mirik in the hills of Darjeeling.
The best part was there were more than 3,000 people who came to listen to us perform at that late an hour. After the performance, a girl came up on stage and kissed my cheek and said, ‘You were great!’ I mean what else can I ask for?” he laughs with a wink. The team is quite excited about their upcoming performance in Chennai. “I am a huge fan of Rajinikanth,” he grins. “I know many of my folks from Darjeeling, who work at beauty parlours and other places in the city. The best thing about Chennai is that people are not as racist here as they’re up North. In fact, I have never experienced it in the entire South India. I am eagerly looking forward to performing here,” he says. Usually, MAD Project’s each song is almost 20 minutes long. This time, however, they are trying to keep it as short as possible.
MAD Project will perform today at 7 pm at The Courtyard, Phoenix MarketCity. For details call: 66513007/8