Indian Ocean comes to Hyderabad to enthral the audience with their catchy, meaningful numbers

The pioneers of fusion rock in India, Indian Ocean comes to town for a performance commemorating their 35 anniversary. Having made music for films and independent albums, they gained immense recognition for the latter. As planned, this performance is intended to make you nostalgic as well as keep you grooving. The band will present songs from their entire career, some lesser-known gems, songs they haven’t played in about five years, and an unreleased track.

While all their tracks are catchy and influenced by folk tunes, they have a very deep meaning inspired by their personal and collective life experiences. Rahul Ram, the bassist, gives us an example of their last album Tu Hai. “Every person, particularly teenagers, inevitably questions the existence of Bhagwan. We were having a similar conversation when Himanshu Joshi (the lead vocalist) and I decided to write something. It started with a line in Kashmiri, inspired by a tune that Amit Kilam had created for the intro. With contributions from everyone, the song evolved into its current form,” he explains.

Rahul also talks about the song Roday which he had originally heard a tribal girl sing in 1993. Many years later, when they decided to make the song, he found out that the village the girl belonged to, has now submerged by a dam, and that’s how the song became about displacement. “Amit’s mother, who is a Kashmiri Pandit, also contributed to the lyrics which give it a different layer”.

Talking about their journey as a band, Rahul says that the biggest challenge was that they were the first band in this niche, hence in the first five years, they did only seven concerts. In 1997, they were doing a concert which they decided to record just because a recorder was available at the venue. On hearing the recording, they liked it and decided to release it as a whole album. “The turning point was the release of Kandisa. We still play songs from Kandisa and Maa Rewa,” he adds.

As pioneers of the independent rock scene in India, and a prominent band since 1990, Indian Ocean has seen multiple phases of the music scene. Rahul talks about how Indie-pop started gaining popularity post-Gulf War in the ’90s. He says that the music scene for this generation is completely different, high lighting, “Earlier, there were only college festivals where we got a chance to perform. Now a lot of other festivals and weekenders have come up which give all independent artistes a great platform. In this gen eration, the recording companies, who would dictate all terms, have also lost power. This being said, I also think that the music in this generation needs to look good, not sound good. People now, whether it is reality TV shows or social media reels, see music, don’t listen to it. Sadly, to be popular and successful in this generation, you need to be conventionally good-looking, which can be detrimental for some great talent.”

Tickets at INR 999. November 10, 8 pm. At Artistry, Hitech City