‘ORIGINAL MUSIC IS ACCEPTED MORE’
Releasing a music video after 20 years, Parikrama talks about the change in band music today
Parikrama — the Delhi-based rock and roll band — is arguably one of India’a most popular music group. And, without tapping the conventional success routes, it has been able to stay in business for 28 years.
The band, which has Nitin Malik on lead vocals, Saurabh Chaudhry and Sonam Sherpa on guitars, Subir Malik on keyboards, Srijan Mahajan on drums and Gaurav Balani on Bass, recently released their first music video and Subir got talking to us:
Almost three decades as a band — how would you sum up the journey so far? Frankly, it just does not seem as three decades at all! And, I think that’s an answer that would sum up how we feel. It’s just been great fun, and still is . We started off just as a bunch of kids, who got together with a common love of rock and roll.
How much has the band scenario changed in India? If it has, how will you compare it to the past? It has surely changed immensely. Today, you have so many ways to make your music reach out; you can record an entire album sitting at home, and that’s great. The biggest change has been in the mindset of the audience. Today’s audience expects and accepts original music much more than it was in the past.
You don’t have any policies against your music being copied and distributed. If true, why? Well, the story goes back in 1997, when we realised that the market for English rock was very limited . So instead of restricting the reach of our music, we thought we should have it out for free. People liked it, and thereafter called us for gigs.That’s when we formed the band — to play live.
Parikrama recently released the first official video in 20 years. Tell us the story behind this.
In November 2017, we performed in Mechuka (Arunachal Pradesh), and instantly fell in love with the place. The beauty and vastness of Mechuka inspired us to make the video of our song Tears of the Wizard there. We came back, wrote to the government of Arunachal Pradesh, and it all just worked out. As Tears… is about the character Gandalf the Grey, from Lord of the Rings film, the locale was just perfect.
What do you count as your biggest challenge as a band, and what are the high points?
Well, we take challenges very sportingly. Our attitude is like ‘Bring it on’ and we will defeat you. This attitude, as a band, was there when we started and it exists even now. That is what keeps us going non-stop. And, high points are just too many!
THE BEAUTY AND VASTNESS OF MECHUKA, ARUNACHAL PRADESH, INSPIRED US TO MAKE THE VIDEO OF OUR SONG TEARS OF THE WIZARD THERE