THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The city-based band 100 Clouds, has had a quiet existence for long, just as their name suggests, under the misty shade of music. The band that has been in the city for the past five years says they were not in a rat-race to be in the limelight. Yet the band had to undergo a brief lull as its members were engaged in numerous jobs. The team has made a come back with their performance at ‘Beach Jam’, an event held in Kovalam, the other day. Except R Divia, the only lead vocalist of the group, all others in the band are men.
Divia says, “as all were busy in various jobs, occasions were rare for us to sit together and practise for the band. Now we have got time to devote for music”. It was a bond of friendship that resulted in the formation of the band. Their first performance was on the Valentine’s Day in 2007 at Uday Samudra beach hotel in Kovalam. Except Shanibhuvan, who plays drums, all others have received training in the instruments they play.
The band has revived its vigour with the backing of Add Events, the firm run by Divia’s husband Rajesh and Shanibhuvan. Yet the lull does not mean that they have kept mum for that period. One of the remarkable strides they made was in releasing a CD in 2010, having the same name as the band. It was Anish, who plays keyboard for the band who composed all four songs in the CD.
Now the members gather at Divia’s home two to three times a month. Christy Abraham, who is on the bass guitar, has joined them very recently. Baiju M Raju, plays lead guitar. They prefer to gather on the evenings of holidays and practise for five to six hours. “Yet the availability of all the members cannot be assured,” says Divia.
The team finds classic rock their comfortable genre. They have performed continuously up to three hours in the evenings. Pink Martini’s ‘taya tan’, Edith Piaf’s ‘la vien rose’, Shakira, Carpenters and ABBA are their select items for performance. Chinese songs too come under their preference and they play the numbers in a music CD gifted by a fan.
The team is also careful in judiciously selecting music as per the taste of the audience who sits before them. “If there are elderly people from North India, we select some classic Hindi songs to present before them. Likewise, if the audience are too young, we switch over to cater to their taste,” says Divia.
Shani chips in between and says that ‘‘a new music composition is on the cards. And it is a dream to play the music on the beach with the sea waves touching our feet gently,” he smiles.