| Indian Ocean | |
|---|---|
Indian Ocean, left to right: Rahul Ram, Susmit Sen, Asheem Chakravarty and Amit |
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Delhi, India |
| Genres | Fusion, Indian, Rock, Folk |
| Years active | 1990–present |
| Website | www.indianoceanmusic.com |
| Members | |
| Susmit Sen Amit Kilam Rahul Ram |
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| Past members | |
| Asheem Chakravarty Shaleen Sharma Indrajit Dutta Anirban Roy |
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Indian Ocean are an Indian rock band formed in New Delhi in 1990. They are considered to be the pioneers of fusion rock genre in India. Susmit Sen, Asheem Chakravarty, Rahul Ram and Amit Kilam formed the most stable and successful line-up in the band's timeline. This line-up lasted till Asheem's death in 2010. It left a void for which the band has so far not made any official replacement. This leaves Sushmit as the only original member in the band. Sushmit and Rahul are the only members who have appeared on the band's debut album Indian Ocean.
The musical style of the band can be at best classified as fusion music. Some music critics describe the band's music as "Indo-rock fusion with jazz-spiced rhythms that integrates shlokas, sufism, environmentalism, mythology and revolution".
Recently, the band has moved against the lines of record labels. They released their latest album 16/330 Khajoor Road online for free. The main reason for this move was the frustration over negotiating contracts with record companies and fighting over copyright issues.[1] They have turned to concerts and sponsorships for generating revenue rather than playing in the hands of record labels. For a brief amount of time they had the sponsorship of Johnnie Walker. All the members hold a great passion for the social work. They are also a part of the world's first Music Personalisation Initiative named DRP (www.divineraaga.com) as one of the five 'Featured Artists'.
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During early 1980s Asheem was playing tabla for a Bengali band Niharika. In 1984, Susmit who was a fan of Niharika, met Asheem during a concert. They hit it off right away. Asheem was taken up by Susmit’s guitar-playing and his vision to evolve a new sound. Susmit, in turn, learnt the nuances of rhythm from Asheem.
For the next 3 years, they kept on experimenting with their music with Susmit on guitar and Asheem on tabla and drums. Yet so far they did not write any lyrics at all. Apart from a concert at Roorkee University, there were not many notable performances by them.
In 1990, they were struggling hard to come up with a demo recording of their band. Susmit sold his electric guitar to raise money for the purpose. They chose to call themselves 'Indian Ocean' which came as a suggestion from Susmit’s father. They had also drafted Shaleen Sharma as the drummer, and Indrajit Dutta and Anirban Roy as bassists.
They recorded the demo, taping an incredible 45 minutes consisting of 7 songs in just one day. Despite the rushed recording, the quality of the demo tape impressed HMV enough to offer them an album deal.
In 1991, Rahul Ram who was Susmit's schoolmate at St. Xaviers, Delhi, joined the band replacing Anirban on bass. They started work on their first album. But, much to their frustration, the album took about an year to get finished. But when their eponymous debut album came out in 1993, it sold over 40,000 copies within a year of its release. It became the highest selling record by any Indian band at that time.
In 1994, drummer Shaleen left the band. He was replaced by Amit Kilam who was much younger than the other band members. Barely out of his teens, Kilam was still taking his college exams. This line-up with Susmit, Asheem, Rahul and Amit became the most recognizable and the most successful in the band's timeline so far. Since then they rolled out a live album Desert Rain and two studio albums Kandisa, Jhini.They also composed the OST of Black Friday and contributed a couple of tracks to the OST of Peepli Live.
In December 2009 the band lost Asheem to death. In October, after suffering a heart attack he was hospitalized in Doha where he was in coma for a brief period and recovering well.[2] On December 25, 2009 he died in New Delhi due to a cardiac arrest.[3]
Indian Ocean has so far not announced any permanent replacement for Asheem. However, they have brought Himanshu Joshi to fill in for Asheem's vocals and Tuheen Chakravarty for tabla and other percussion which Asheem used to play.
The band announced release of their first studio album after the death of Asheem Chakravarty '16/330 Khajoor Road'. The band had made the whole album available for download from their site by adding one new song each month.
Of late, the album '16/330 Khajoor Road', has been released in a 2 CD pack. The track listing for the same is as follows:
CD1: 1) Chand 2) Shoonya 3) Bondhu 4) Sone Ke Nagri 5) Bula Raha 6) Darte Ho 7) Jogiya
CD2: 1) Hulla 2) Untitled (Studio Scratch) 3) Gum Hai Aisa (Studio Scratch) 4) Phere (Hulla Reject - Practice room jam) 5) leaving Home (Live) 6) Tandanu (Practice room jam) 7) No Comebacks (Live At Khajoor Road)
The album was recorded at Kshitij Studios, new Delhi & Mixed by Aakash Gupta and Amit Kilam.
Susmit has virtually invented a new style of playing the guitar, an uncannily Indian sound where purity of scale reigns, strong melodic lines woven around the drone of open strings. His guitar style forms the basis of Indian Ocean's sound. Susmit’s personal vision is towards finding a new vocabulary for his music. His virtuoso talent never overshadows the big picture, but serves the song immaculately, strengthening it, embellishing it, giving it a distinct character.
Asheem (1957–2009) showed his rhythmic ability at an early age, surprising musicians who learned that he never had any formal training. He quit a career in advertising, along with Susmit Sen to form Indian Ocean, where he played the tabla, tarang and other percussion instruments while also being band's vocalist. Indian Ocean fans call him “the man with the golden voice”. Asheem sang and played the tabla simultaneously, a difficult feat rare by Indian percussionists. Asheem’s rhythm structures were unique and contributed a large part to Indian Ocean’s signature sound. He improvised vocal lines while on stage and was innovative with traditional Indian percussion instruments. Asheem was brought up in an atmosphere of Indian classical, folk and other Indian forms of music.
Asheem was hospitalized in Doha after suffering a heart attack in October and was in a state of coma for a brief period, but was recovering well.[4] He died after suffering a cardiac arrest in New Delhi in the afternoon on the 25th of December 2009. He is survived by wife Sunita Chakravarty and 14-year-old son, Ekansh Chakravarty.[5][6]
Amit’s drumming is a balance between the conventional and non-conventional. Largely self-taught, he believes in layering rhythm rather than a heavy drum layer, since he believes in simplicity, not technical wizardry, thus becoming the backbone of the solid sound that the band has. He incorporates Indian rhythms into his drumming in a unique fashion, moving in cycles of 8, 10, 12 14, 16, rather than simple 4/4 or ¾ styles. Not a “psychotic drummer”, he goes easy on the skins, yet his playing is very dynamic. Was introduced to music at the age of 4 by his parents, learning the guitar (Hawaiian – Indian classical). He is an instinctive musician, picking up several instruments very easily, and he sings also. Loves listening to various kinds of music – Hindi filmi, rock, pop – favorites are A R Rahman, Trilok Gurtu and Deep Purple.
View Artist page here
Rahul’s bass playing moves smoothly – from melodic enmeshing with vocal and guitar lines to the more standard laying of foundations over which the band soars. His stage presence is an essential part of Indian Ocean’s live concerts. His vocals have a power and edge that emphasizes the folk roots of the band. Rahul also does most of the talking at live shows. His experiences as an activist/supporter with the Narmada Bachao Andolan (1990–1995) and during his four years studying in the US have exposed him to a variety of musical styles from all over India and the world, and have strongly influenced his musical expression. Rahul has PhD in Environmental Toxicology from Cornell University in New York (1986–90). In recent year, Rahul Ram went to America to learn to play the alto-sax, which he intends to bring to the bands music.
Rahul and Asheem have also sung "Yaara Maula" in a Anurag Kashyap's Gulaal, a Hindi movie based on politics.