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'India is next big thing
in global rock music'
By
Mayank Aggarwal
New
Delhi, Oct 31 (IANS) India is the next big thing on the global
rock music map with international bands culling heavily from
this country, say Indian and international rock musicians.
Many
of them are performing at the two-day Fuel-Great Indian Rock
festival that began in Mumbai Thursday. The Delhi leg of the
festival is to take place Nov 1-2 at the Hamsadhwani open
air theatre in Pragati Maidan.
The
13-year-old festival, one of the oldest international rock
music festivals in the country, will travel to seven cities
- Mumbai, Delhi, Shillong, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad and
Pune.
"Indian
rock musicians are innovating. Bands in this country are incorporating
elements from Indian classical and religious music into hard
rock and heavy metal.
They
sound very good. Asia is where all the action will take place
in the future. I just heard Pentagram, a Mumbai-based band,
yesterday and I liked their music," Mattias Seklunth,
guitarist and vocalist of the 16-year-old Swedish rock band
Freak Kitchen, told IANS here Thursday.
The
Great Indian Rock Festival over the years has featured some
of the biggest names in home-grown rock like Parikrama, Orange
Street and Indian Ocean. It has been a platform for Indian
bands to showcase their skills and talent - with several crediting
the festival for their journey to the global stage.
This
year, the festival will feature indigenous bands like Them
Clones, Level 9, Cyanide, Cassini's Division, Half Step Down,
Skinny Alley, Undying Inc, and The Supersonics. The West will
be represented by Freak Kitchen from Sweden and Sahg and Satyricon
from Norway.
Amit
Saigal, editor of the Rock Street Journal told reporters here
on the eve of the festival that it was a "privilege and
a pleasure to have so many good musicians despite the initial
hiccups".
"It
has taken us 12 years to reach here. The festival is a big
platform to connect," Saigal said, clarifying that it
was not a competitive event.
International
rock, the musicians asserted, was culling heavily from India.
Groups
like the Sahg and the Freak Kitchen have been inspired by
Indian music and have tried to adapt Indian classical scales
and Carnatic music in their new scores.
"The
idea to play in India occurred to us after an Indian drummer
auditioned for us. Though he didn't make it to the stage,
we were curious about India and wanted to play our music there,"
said Olav Iversen of the Norwegian heavy metal band Sahg,
which models its music on the likes of legends like Black
Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, REM and Metallica.
Freak
Kitchen, on its part, is more rooted in India.
"In
my childhood, my brother-in-law hired a sitarist from India
to teach him the instrument. My mother also learnt to play
the instrument," said Seklunth, who has picked up tonalities
from Carnatic music.
Freak
Kitchen has an Indian violinist Radhakrishna, who plays the
double violin.
Selkunth has also performed with Selvaganesh, who plays the
khanjira, a traditional percussion instrument.
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