Bangalore-based progressive fusion rock band Eswara, combines Indian classical music with western music and creates a unique blend of music that is equally powerful and soulful. The band came together in a bid to take part in a music festival called Break Free, August 2012, held at Forum Mall, Bangalore. “The band was first named Echoes, but there were three or four bands with the same name. So, we decided to change it to something unique. The name has two parts, E and Swara. E can mean anything ranging from electronic to ethnic, while swara signifies the classical foundation,” explains Yogeendra Hariprasad, the lead vocalist and the keyboard player.
The core group of the band has Yogeendra, Anirban Sen Gupta the lead guitarist, a third-year engineering student from BMS College of Engineering (BMSCE), Noel Aiyar also on keyboard is a first-year science student from St Joseph’s College, and Dinushan Shanmuganathan, drummer and percussionist. Dinushan is a third-year engineering student from BMSCE. The team also has Nitesh Iyer, who plays the drums and works at Amazon, Sidharth Bharadwaj on flute and a HR recruiter at Cross Bridges, and Srimukh Chandra, the violinist who also specialises in morsing. Raynol D’Souza plays the bass guitar, and is a third-year engineering student from BMSCE.
Inspired by bands and musicians like Dream Theater, Agam, Advaita, Raghu Dixit, and Opeth, the band focuses on fusing western rock with Indian classical music. “We base our music on both Carnatic and Hindustani classicals. While rock gives the opportunity to express ourselves,” says Yogeendra. Since Break Free, Eswara has performed in many music fests. Starting from composing the theme song for BMS Utsav, one of the biggest college fests in the city, they moved on to deliver winning performances at Naalam 2013 at NUALS Kochi, and NMIT’s Anaadayanta. They were runners-up at SKIT’s Phoenix 2013 and Revamp’13.
— durbaduttabhaumik@yahoo.com