BANGALORE: Whatever reasons bands may give for their coming together, they don’t mount to making a marked difference, as long as their produce doesn’t sound good. For Advaita, the reason that holds them together and the harvest of their efforts, point towards novelty. And that’s perhaps what makes them stand out as a band - their sounds are distinctive and they borrow a name from ancient Indian philosophy – advaita, meaning non-duality (which they say they go by).
When the eight men come together on stage as they did at Kyra on Sunday, music takes the front seat in a manner that truly justifies what John Leckie (producer for Radiohead, Muse) once told about them in an interview, “I’m sure Advaita will bring home a Grammy, one day!” Call them Indian Ocean juniors, Colonial Cousins exemplified or Pink Floyd gone desi, they can rightly be dubbed the young new find of Indian music.
For the eight men (boys as they started out) from New Delhi, the year 2004 was when the story began. “We were all from different bands. And in the music circle in Delhi, everyone knows each other. We thought of coming together and experimenting with each of our sounds,” says Anindo Bose, keyboardist. And each of their sounds is different, but it melts together in a manner that traverses the concept of the overrated term, fusion.
Call it an organic blend of sounds and cultures and they’ll be a happy lot. Ujwal Nagar redefines Hindustani vocals, Abhishek Mathur stays sturdy behind the guitar, Chayan Adhikari lends the Leslielike western vocals, Mohit Lal makes Zakir Hussain a jealous man with his tablas, Suhail Yusuf Khan takes Sarangi to the fore like never before, Aman Singh Rathore gives the drums a definitive rhythm and Gaurav Chintamani looks happily married to his bass guitar.
They are also lucky musicians. For, winning a competition organised by the British Council, grabbed them a chance to work with producer John Leckie also giving them a platform to showcase their talent Europe where they embarked upon a five-city tour spanning two weeks.
Performing tracks from their debut album, Grounded in Space, the band not only enthralled the city but perhaps also opened a new avenue for performers with a calling for parallel thinking. “We’ve never performed in Bangalore before. The response has been good and we want to come back,” exclaims an enthused Abhishek.
Adds Anindo, “We want to do more with our music - perhaps introduce more electronic sounds and even take a deep, dark route.” Deep, dark and innovative is probably their new undertaking, but what the eight men hold good, more than anything else apart from music is spirituality. “We believe that everyone is part of the same energy, the same universe. That’s the concept of oneness. That is advaita,” explains Anindo. A wise man once said, ‘Young minds think different.’ Advaita reiterates the same with zest. But more importantly with oneness, holding on to what they ultimately believe in.