Bullets, shrapnel and loads of RDX are now going into the making of an unlikely weapon — music. And Indian music Web sites are already getting bombarded with the stuff.
Bullets, shrapnel and loads of RDX are now going into the making of an unlikely weapon — music. And Indian music Web sites are already getting bombarded with the stuff.
Several young Indian bands are creating music drawn out of the 11/7 terrorist attacks. Bands like Still Waters (Nagaland), Wax (Banglore), Cyanide (Delhi), Fear the Free and Ranghar (Mumbai) are tuning their guitars to the explosions and the need for peace.
Edwin D'Souza, father of rocker-turned-album producer Brain D'Souza, was in the bogie next to the one which exploded at Matunga Road railway station on 11/7. He was shaken when he reached home later that evening.
While trying to calm his father, Brian composed a song on terror and also found that artistes from Sikkim to Bangalore had started using it as a theme as well.
A month later, he shared his music on the Web. He released a compilation of 10 songs contributed by bands from across the country. Titled Awake and Arise', it contains a mix of pop, rock, reggae, funk, metal and Indian fusion.
“The music is cathartic. It helped my father to move on in life. We released it online to reach millions affected by such tragedies,” said Brain.
Pained by his colleague's losses in the recent bomb blasts, Pradeep Mukherjee, a guitarist from Mumbai-based band Ranghar, wrote Hey Ram.
“Sandeep Khand, the vocalist of our band and a close friend, lost a loved one in the blast. We composed this song for him and people like him who are struggling to move on after going through the trauma caused by the blasts,” said Mukherjee.
Having lived for most of their lives in the shadows of terror in the Northeast, the band also has a song called Rok Lo, as a response to the political movements in the region. “Through this song, we have appealed to terrorist groups that their crusade might be justified, but in the end they are fighting against their own people,” he adds.
Online music observers claim that the trend comes from international bands. Mihir Joshi, editor, e-Music post, an online music magazine, said, “Bands get inspired by songs like Michael Jackson's We are the World, which was composed to raise funds for the famine-affected people of Ethiopia, since they do well.”
He, however, added, “Music drawn out of terrorism or tragedy has always been relevant.”
Subir Malik, founder of popular rock band Parikrama, said, “Our most successful song But it Rains has had more than two million downloads.” The song was inspired from the kidnapping of foreign tourists by the terrorist group named Al Farhan in 1994.
Still Waters, a Gangtok-based band which dedicated four songs to 11/7, feel they are better adapted to live with terror. Ananth Pradhan, vocalist and the man who wrote the popular number Live a Little, said, “We have seen lives crumble every day. This was our opportunity to contribute our experience to the cause.”
It hasn't been a bad contribution either. Within a month there have been over 4,000 downloads.
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