Agam (band)

Agam

Agam the Band

Sitting: From L to R - Jagadish Natarajan, Vignesh Lakshminarayanan, Swamy Seetharaman.
Standing: From L to R - Ganesh Ram Nagarajan, Sivakumar Nagarajan, Harish Sivaramakrishnan, T Praveen Kumar
Background information
Origin Bangalore, India.
Genres Carnatic progressive rock
Years active 2003 - present
Labels Independent
Website https://agam.bandpage.com/
Members Harish Sivaramakrishnan
Ganesh Ram Nagarajan
Swamy Seetharaman
T Praveen Kumar
Vignesh Lakshminarayanan
Sivakumar Nagarajan
Jagadish Natarajan
Past members Suraj Satheesh

Agam is a Bangalore-based contemporary Carnatic progressive rock band. The band was formed in the year 2003. The current lineup consists of Harish Sivaramakrishnan (vocals and violin), Ganesh Ram Nagarajan (drums and backing vocals), Swamy Seetharaman (keyboards and lyricist), T Praveen Kumar (lead guitar), Vignesh Lakshminarayanan (bass guitar and backing vocals), Sivakumar Nagarajan (ethnic percussions), and Jagadish Natarajan (rhythm guitar). Jagadish replaced Suraj Satheesh as the rhythm guitarist in 2012 but the lineup of the band has otherwise remained same.

Early years and Band formation

Formation

All the band members are from South India, and a majority of them studied at Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani.[1] There Harish and Ganesh started off with short jamming sessions and continued with it even after graduation, which eventually led to the formation of the band. Their musical journey started in an apartment studio where they started experimenting with various compositions of music under the name ‘Studio F6’, which they later rechristened as 'Agam'.[2]

Early years (2003-2007)

Agam received its big break in the year 2007 when it participated in a band hunt called “Ooh la la la,” hosted by the Tamil television channel Sun TV. The competition was judged by the Oscar winning Indian music composer A. R. Rahman. Rahman was impressed by the band’s potential and adjudged them one of the winners of the contest. Their success in “Ooh la la la” brought them into mainstream and they performed in concerts and music festivals in South Indian cities like Bangalore, Chennai, and Hyderabad.

Mainstream (2007-)

Post-2010, Agam started gaining more popularity nationwide and played in several high profile music festivals such as the Chennai Sangamam, the MAD Festival[3] (where they played alongside several distinguished bands such as The Raghu Dixit Project, Indian Ocean, Avial, Motherjane, Soulmate, Swarathma), the Fireflies Festival, Octoberfest, and the Storm Festival. The band has also played at venues such as Hard Rock Café, both at Hyderabad and Bangalore,[4][5][6] and Kyra, Bangalore[7] They have also performed at college fests such as Symbhav in Symbiosis Law School, Pune, Tathva in National Institute of Technology, Calicut and all three campuses of Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani in India.

Apart from these, Agam has also performed in many charitable events.[8]

Agam has also been featured in other television channels. Their well-known performances includes the one for the entertainment channel Rosebowl. They also performed in the second season of Coke Studio (India) which started on July 7, 2012. The band performed in the final episode of the season, which has only the performances of independent music producers.[9]

Music Style

Agam's musical style is Carnatic Progressive Rock. Their music is a blend of Carnatic music and Rock. The band draws inspirations from Traditional Carnatic music and progressive rock acts like Dream Theater. Their logo is inspired by the folk art Theyyam of North Kerala. The band borrows their name from the malayalam word 'Agam' which means the 'Heart, soul or the inner soul'.[10]

Collaborations

Agam has collaborated with many individual musicians over the course of 5 years. Among them was their collaboration with acclaimed Indian playback singer Shreya Ghoshal for a song titled Live Again.

Debut Album

Agam released its debut album - The Inner Self awakens in October 2012 at Hard Rock Cafe, Bangalore. The album went on to become the top selling album on Flipkart's flyte as well as on Oklisten.com.

Awards and Recognitions

References

  1. ↑ "Agam, the band, with BITSian roots". BITSAA. Retrieved 5 February 2012.
  2. ↑ "Agam". http://www.oklisten.com. Retrieved 23 December 2014. External link in |website= (help)
  3. ↑ "Agam at MAD Festival". Retrieved 25 August 2012.
  4. ↑ "Ragas With a Dash of Rock". New Indian Express. 4 October 2012. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
  5. ↑ "agam-perform-live-in-hard-rock-cafe". Retrieved 25 August 2012.
  6. ↑ "Contemporary Carnatic rock". New Indian Express. 30 June 2012. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
  7. ↑ "Agam Live At Kyra". 18 March 2011. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
  8. ↑ "Uthaan: Compassion unlimited". New Indian Express. 12 June 2012. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
  9. ↑ "Agam". Retrieved 25 August 2012.
  10. ↑ https://agam.bandpage.com/
  11. ↑ "The Birth of a Genre: Harish Sivaramakrishnan at TEDxChristUniversity".
  12. ↑ "Ministry Of Sound". July 2, 2012. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
  13. ↑ "Full List of IndieGo Winners". Retrieved 25 August 2012.
  14. ↑ "Agam ropes in Shreya for cancer song". Bangalore Mirror. 20 October 2010. Retrieved 25 August 2012.

External links

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