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The music of Parikrama is a blend of blues and rock and roll. PRINCE FREDERICK chats with the band members
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AS A freelance journalist, Parikrama's bass guitarist can string lines as well as he can strum tunes. This is what he has to say about his manager and band member Subir Malik, "He is the driving force behind the band... he drives everyone nuts!"
One is not so sure if the soft-spoken Subir is capable of driving anyone nuts, let alone his friends, but this keyboardist sure has the disconcerting ability to call a spade a spade.
When this Delhi band was formed on June 17, 1991, Subir clearly delineated its objectives. "I laid it on the line. I told the boys that apart from boosting their sense of self-worth and providing an outlet for their music skills, the band would do little for their lives." Most important, Subir told them that not much of an economic benefit would accrue from the concerts. "So, make your pile elsewhere."
The boys got the message and learnt to draw clear lines between vocation and avocation. They accumulated fame through Parikrama and their fortune through their various professions. Subir is a manufacturer-cum-wholesaler of motor spare parts, Chintan writes for magazines and produces, directs, edits and shoots for television and the big screen, lead guitarist Sonam Sherpa is the CEO of his own music school, lead vocalist and Subir's brother Nitin Malik is a music producer, arranger and composer and drummer Ramachandran runs a post-production studio.
All of them were born in the early 1970s and were either studying in the same school or the same college. But Parikrama goes beyond the "old school tie" principle. Over the years, it has taken on board other music-makers as well. Among them are the 23-year-old guitarist Saurabh Chaudhry, violinist Imran and tabla player Shambu.
The presence of these Indian elements does not strike an incongruous note. Far from it, it perfects Parikrama's rock act. In their gigs, the Western slides effortlessly into the Indian.
Though they have let Indian elements partly define their music, they have not yielded to the temptation to travel the Indipop road. However, resisting this temptation took some doing as "music label czars were knocking on our doors and asking us to go Hindi."
But they had their route clearly chartered - blues and rock and roll. So tethered and faithful have they been to this tradition, that today they are seen as having fully cemented and solidified their position among the front-ranking rock groups in the country. "We have given about 500 gigs. Actually, we have lost count," says Subir.
This only goes to show that the band has lived up to its name `Parikrama' which means sticking to one's duty, staying on the chosen path and going on and on.
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