A music that resonates of cosmos

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(Free-Press-Release.com) March 5, 2010 -- It is the thing with old civilisations... they tend to churn out the old in newer ways. So, Sufi transforms itself into Sufi rock. Ragas transform themselves to become Raga rock. In the last 10 years, the Indian sub continent has seen many such attempts to give that which has been around for centuries a contemporary identity. This urge to recreate the old into something new saw bands like Euphoria, Indian Ocean, Parikrama, Pentagram come up in India. Pakistan saw the emergence of bands such Junoon, Strings and Jal. Bangladesh and Nepal too had their bands.

Taking this tradition further is a relatively new Delhi band, Advaita. However, Advaita though falling in the same category is quite different. It describes itself as psychedelic fusion band. First, their core philosophy. Advaita seeks inspiration from the ancient Indian philosophy of Advaita, non duality. What they stand for is oneness and spirituality of music. Everything they sing pivots around this central theme. It deals with the belief of energy and consciousness. So while other bands sing of love, rebellion, unity and humanity, Advaita brings all of this together and pitches it in the context of the universe, the Brahman and the spiritual. As you listen to songs like Rasiya, Raga Durga and Ghir Ghir from their first album, Grounded in Space, you are immediately struck by the variety of sounds. Not just of Western acoustic instruments like drums, the electric guitar and the synthesizer but by distinctly Indian instruments like the Tabla and Sarangi.

On questioning, Abhishek Mathur, one of the founding members of the group says, "Classical music forms an important dimension of our music. You see there is this natural psychedelic element to Indian Classical music. We wanted to explore it but at the same time blend it with the space psychedelia." That brings us to the composition of the band. One is pleasantly surprised to see that it has 8 band members, as against the routine 4-5. Of which, two guys, Ujwal Nagar and Sohail Yusuf Khan, hail from classical music families. Listen to songs like Raga Durga and Rasiya and you’ll know what one is talking about. Explaining further, Abhishek says, “With classical Indian music based songs, we try to retain its core but add that extra something that makes it sound edgy and funky too.”

The author is an entertainment news editor and works for many websites related to event, bollywood, music, movie, concerts and theater. Visit one more interesting article of author: Residency Club Pune or visit: http://www.buzzintown.com/pune/venue_residency-club--id_8206.html