KOCHI: What does Maveli look like? According to epics like Bhagavata, he is an Asura king. However, the dark-skinned Dravidan’s appearance has gone through a drastic change in popular culture over time.
Mangosteen Club, an amateur band that is a brainchild of four friends, wanted to break this misconception through their debut song Maveli. The release from last year is an ode to the forgotten dark-skinned king and was welcomed by Malayalis all over the world.
After Maveli, the band has released around ten songs on their social media channels. The lockdown stopped them from meeting and jamming, so they recorded the songs on their phones. However, they grew a steady fan base over time, in love with their music and hard-hitting lyrics that speak for the layman.
"We have been friends for a long time. Our lyricist Ajay Jishnu, guitarist and composer Hariprasad, and I are childhood friends. Our mutual friend Navjyoth Surendran, a lawyer, also joined us on the guitar," says Vishnu Vijayan, who works behind their videos.
The friends met after the first lockdown at their hometown in Kozhikode and started discussing music seriously. "Ajay had already written some songs. So, we thought why not start a band and make music," says Hariprasad. The three friends initially used to meet under the Mangosteen tree at Ajay's home. "That's how the name came to be. The band was created under a mangosteen tree," quips Vishnu.
Despite the ups and downs, they have faced financially and due to the pandemic, the four friends wanted to make music that is easy for the masses to sing along and enjoy, while without compromising on their political ideologies. The band now has many honourary members helping them, including Mohan Das who wrote and sang Thanthane.
The cliche songs
2021 is a year of reckoning for Mangosteen Club. They moved from being an idea to a reality with grit and a future. With the release of three love songs, the band improved on their quality and made a foothold on YouTube.
"We are working on many ideas. We have all moved to Kochi as it makes it easier to work on our music. We are releasing a new song called Tharattuu (Lullaby) soon. A rap song is also in the pipeline," Vishnu says.
Their songs are fiercely political. Sometimes very explicit - like social commentaries on casteism, environmental issues and repealing the draft EIA bill, human rights issues in Lakshadweep and so on. "Our love songs carry the message that love itself is gender fluid. We shouldn’t reduce it just between men and women," says Ajay.