Last week Indian Ocean fans rejoiced as Leaving Home: The Life and Music of Indian Ocean by Jaideep Varma won the National Film Award in the Best Art and Culture Film category. Reading it, I remembered my first encounter with Indian Ocean’s music and its band members.
When I first heard their music, as clichéd as it may sound, I didn’t know what hit me. Deeply rooted in Indian tradition yet with a global appeal, their music couldn’t be classified into any particular genre. Susmit Sen’s completely new sound and style of playing the guitar, Asheem Chakravarti’s voice earthy yet soaring, his fingers playing uncannily familiar yet strange take-offs on Indian taals, Rahul Ram’s awesome bass playing and a voice full of raw energy, Amit Kilam’s drums weaving extraordinary rhythmic patterns around remarkable musical compositions were things I had never heard before. I was completely drenched in their music, listening to each track probably a hundred times.
I met Susmit, the founder-member of the band, in that euphoric state. I met him in a party, standing in a corner with his glass of rum. For some strange reason I thought he was an IT engineer. The hostess did her duty with a “Here’s S u s m i t — h e r e ’ s Sharmistha” type of introduction before hurrying off to greet other guests.
I cursed her silently and turned around to face Susmit for some polite conversation before I could escape. Here follows the conversation: “So, what do you do?” “I’m a musician”.
“Oh, that’s interesting! What do you play?” “Guitar. I’m with the band Indian Ocean.” I screeched in excitement, in a manner most unbefitting a Kanjivaram-clad classical dancer, but I couldn’t care less! That meeting with Susmit soon led me to visit their rehearsal place, “16/ 330 Khajoor Road” (their latest album by that name is a dedication to that delightful space which saw creation of such mind-boggling music), tucked away in one of the bustling by-lanes of Delhi’s Karol bagh. I was hoping to see four god-gifted musicians deeply immersed in the process of creating music, completely unaware of any outside distractions. But lo and behold! Guess what I saw them doing? Playing cricket in their dried-up front lawn! That’s Indian Ocean! One can not have any pre-conceived notions or assumptions about them or their music.
I met them in 2001 when they were about to go for their first tour abroad. Since then they have travelled across probably half the globe. They have played Indian music to audiences across the world and made us proud. The best part about their music is that it never gets dated. It’s evolving, each new composition is imbibed with fresh vitality, yet remaining deeply rooted to that magical core which is nothing but Indian Ocean.
In 2009 December Asheem passed away. Since then, two new members, Himanshu Joshi and Tuhin Chakrabarti have joined. Asheem’s death is an irreplaceable loss for both the band members and its fans, but like true great musicians they continued to perform and create. It probably shows that Indian Ocean music has become an institution, a genre of its own, going and growing beyond its individual members. Indefinable, earthy yet heavenly, deeply centered yet immensely popular, unmistakably Indian yet global, Indian Ocean’s music truly reflects the personality of its band members— always full of surprises.
The writer is a Kathak dancer based in Delhi.