BENGALURU: For Peepal Tree, Kannada was always the main area of focus but there was always room for more languages. “We had a couple of songs where somebody suggested that my knowledge of Hindi would work better with the melody because the lyrics always come later in our case. The song Magizhchi in our debut album has been sung in Tamil and is actually an ode to Rajinikanth,” said guitarist Tony Das of the band.
On November 1, the band released their latest single, Cauvery, which speaks about the significance of the river. “We wanted to spread a positive message because people forget how beautiful the river is. Cauvery is a magnanimous source of water for three states. The song celebrates the river for what it is,” he said.
On Friday, the band took to stage at Aurum, Sarjapur, serving fresh grooves ranging from Bhuviyidu and Magizhchi to the smooth-flowing Roshan-E-Kaafile from their 10-track multi-lingual debut album, Chetana, which released in 2018.
Formed in 2014, the supergroup comprises vocalist Sujay Harthi, guitarist Das, bassist Praveen Biligiri, drummer Willy Demoz and keyboardist Siddharth Kamath, each of whom was part of various projects ranging from the Raghu Dixit Project to Bhoomi, the erstwhile metal-band from the city.
Emphasising on the vibrant tracks, Harthi states that Roshan-E-Kaafile is based on an abstract theme.
“Each day, you see new colours and lights along with new experiences in life. The song revolves around these little instances and is trickled with Urdu phrases, which fit the melody like a nut and bolt. The lyrics of the title-track, Chetana, is based on a poem of the same name written by the poet Kuvempu and is also a tribute revolving around the theme of looking beyond differences in the world,” said Harthi.
Apart from the album receiving wide acclaim, the band also made an official entry into 2019 Grammy Ballots and was placed under the best rock album category, “We entered knowing that it’s a long shot for the music to reach new circles. Though we didn’t get into the nomination list, to get into the ballots where a few hundreds are selected out of 30,000 nominations is a great feeling,” he added.
Speaking about their future projects, the band is currently working on new material which is nearing completion and look to release more songs on a periodic basis. “We have a single, Lamha, which we have played live and is currently being worked on., There is another brand new single, both of which we look forward to putting out in 2020,” Harthi said.
Fact check
Peepal Tree’s latest single, Cauvery, climbed up to up to the No. 1 position in the iTunes Indian rock chart on the day of release. They are heavily inspired by literary and philosophical giants of Karnataka, like Rashtrakavi Kuvempu, Dara Bendra and Santa Shishunala Sharifa.