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Fresh breath to fusion
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A penchant for music brought eight youngsters together to form the band — Oxygen, which released its first fusion album
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A BUNCH of like-minded teenagers meets at an interschool music competition, decides to make an album and call it Oxygen O2. Throw in a couple of difficult situations — hunting for finance, finding a place for practice sessions, parental objection to the idea...
No. This is not the story of the latest Kollywood blockbuster and any resemblance to the movie "Boys" is unintentional. This is a story about eight ambitious youngsters who wanted to make their dream come true. A penchant for music and the enthusiasm to work hard helped them create their band — Oxygen O2.
In association with Carnatica and in the presence of eminent personalities from the entertainment industry — playback singer Srinivas, guitarist Steve Vatz and actor Bharath — the fusion album was released recently at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Mylapore.
It all started when Girinandh won the Mr. Virtuoso award in the music competition, `Kreativ 2003,' conducted by Carnatica. This award inspired him to explore his talent in music. His friends Harish and Sundar who also shared the interest got together and decided to pursue their dreams. The interschool music competitions that followed helped them spot talent which later became part of the band.
The going wasn't easy for the eight-member group comprising besides Girinandh, Harish and Sundar, Jhanu Chanthar, Prithvi, S. Karthik, Anirudh and K.S. Ramana. As K.N. Shashikiran of Carnatica, who helped in creating the band, puts it, "Parents are not going to be happy when you say you are planning to cut an album, especially when the Board exams are approaching. But fortunately after some initial objection, their parents were co-operative."
Juggling academics with music they had to prove to their parents that they were not wasting their time. As the members were not from the same school a higher level of coordination, dedication and umpteen practice sessions were required before they recorded their first track. Everything fell in place and the album was released as an instrumental fusion. The band also played parts of the album for the audience during the release. First, it was "Vatapiganapathim" complete with guitar and drums in the background to give it a fusion effect. Dimension, Silverstone, Mist, Intensity and a few more of their own compositions completed the live performance. Through this album, the band hopes to make its foray into the world of fusion music. As Girinandh says, "With support we hope to keep Oxygen alive and make more such albums."
PRASSANA SRINIVASAN
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