HYDERABAD: With 97.1 thousand subscribers on Youtube and increasing number of performances across pubs and colleges in Hyderabad, ChowRaasta is teeming with new ideas and songs. After two hit originals – Maya and Oorelipota Mama – this local band is set to release another original by the end of January. It has already carved itself a niche in the pub music circuit with its folk-flavoured songs set to Reggae tune.
Saying that they want to write more songs on social issues, Ram Miryala, vocalist, says: "Our new song exhorts people to look beyond their own problems and take care of others too. We do not want Maya to become the face of ChowRaasta. It was a commercial song with catchy lyrics to reach out to the young audience, and it has served the purpose. Now that a few million people are listening to us, we have more responsibility." The band has Ram and Bala on the vocals, Yashwant on keyboard, Akshay on drums, Anant on bass guitar and Srinivas on guitar.
Incidentally, four of the band members had worked for a radio station earlier and that is where they met. They found that they were all musically inclined and were into creative pursuits. After bonding over several jamming sessions at Kasol and some market research, they decided to respond to their true calling.
"We started an year back. The journey started with four of us – Ram, me, Bala and Yashwant. We decided that we would go on stage in six months after working on content. We all have different points of view and come from different schools of thought. But at one point, our thoughts do converge. That’s why we named our band ChowRaasta, a place where four paths meet. The name also refers to the Rastafarian movement as our music is heavily influenced by Reggae," says Srinivas.
Besides singing their originals, the band also likes to perform old Telugu numbers written by Telugu cultural icons like Goreti Venkanna and Gaddar. "We want to touch social issues through our music, but we do not want to sound preachy. One of our favourite songs is Samara Simha Dora written by Goreti Venkanna. We admire how he puts across his points subtly, and he even came to one of our jam sessions. We also like to sing Madana Sundari by Gaddar. We sing anything that we feel emotionally connected to," the team adds.