KOCHI: Ranjini Jose says Eka The Band will be her voice and label and definitely sing her language. The popular singer, who has been on the Malayalam music scene for nearly two decades, will launch her five-member ‘Eka The Band’ at a high profile function at Kochi on November 11.
She says the band was her dream child. “I always wanted to have a band of my own. But over the years, I became busy pursuing an individual career of my own. It’s easy to form a band when you are just starting out.
But after you build a graph and a niche of your own, it takes more time to launch one. Also, I needed to find the perfect members who could complete the band and gel with my kind of music,” said Ranjini.
The band members include Ralfin Stephen, a pianist and an avid artist, who will play the piano and keyboards. Aswin, who is the lead guitarist of the band Ever After will be the lead guitarist of Eka The Band. Samuel Jacob, the bass guitarist, was also featured on Music Mojo, while Akhil of Madras Mail will be the drummer. The sole singer will be Ranjini.
For the moment, the band will focus on cover versions of songs and present different genres of music including Hindustani, Carnatic, folk, Indie pop, rock, ghazals and melodies. “We hope to make our own music and original tracks someday, but for the time being, we will stick to songs I have sung in Malayalam films and albums and other popular numbers. There will songs in different languages including Hindi, English and foreign languages,” she said.
Ranjini says there was an era when Malayalees greatly loved melodies. But the scene has changed. Now, the Malayali audience has become more experimenting. “This is why our band will be catering to all tastes,” says the artist, who is quick to add that her band won’t be in any competition with any of the bands in the music industry. The band name Eka has been derived from her spiritual belief. “It comes from the mantra, ‘Ekam evam advatheeyam’. It means unity and peace, something I believe music is capable of doing,” she says.