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Variety is the spice of Kalinga

One of the bands doing well in the city is Kalinga. Playing all kinds of music is the key to success, say its members

BAND OF BOYS Members of Kalinga, from left, Williams, Sumesh, Manu, Sam and Rajesh

Another band to make it big in Kochi is Kalinga. With an eclectic fusion, intelligent pop, often interspersed with rhythmic drums, cool samples and soulful classics, they have grown to become one of the most popular bands in South India. The emphasis is always meant on pop but Kalinga owes their popularity largely to their versatility. They are a band that plays to the changing tastes of the contemporary audience.

More than a rock band

"In all these years we have come to realise that to survive in Kerala you need to be something more than just a rock band. You need to have variety. Look, almost everywhere we perform there are requests to play popular hits like `Hotel California'. We have to play all these songs if the band has to keep breathing. I think we can very proudly say that since 2000, the year Kalinga was formed we have the most number of shows in South India. On an average we have around 100 shows a year. Without shows a band cannot stick together," says Manu, the ace drummer, who along with guitarist Sumesh founded Kalinga.

What made Manu and Sumesh take the plunge into a very competitive field was the valuable experience they had gained playing for other groups. Manu was earlier with 13 AD, playing everyday at the Pavo Real Mexican restaurant in Muscat, while Sumesh, who has an eighth grade from the Trinity School of Music, London, is a top studio artiste who plays the lead guitar for numerous music composers.

"All of us have decades of experience and this is our biggest advantage. The other three members of Kalinga, the lead vocalist Sam, Rajesh who plays the bass guitar and Williams who plays the keyboard, piano were all part of other bands before we got together. Our first show was for a television channel and since then we have rocked on for all these years," remembers Manu, who did his post graduation in Mass Communication and Human Resource Management.

Like most groups Kalinga started off on the hotel and corporate circuit. This they continue to do so even today along with their regular shows and various TV shows.

"This demands we build up a huge repertoire of songs. By now we have a stock that ranges from classics to the new age rock and roll, pop, reggae, funk, fusion to songs in Spanish, Latin and Hindi remixes. In fact, we must be the only band that play the Hindi remixes live on stage. Kalinga believes that music, whatever the genre, is universal. We are ready for any brand of music."

Kalinga has composed music for private albums, for different events, and ad jingles. "In between we did the music for two Gospel albums, which have been released in the United States and Middle East. We composed all the tunes, got the voice track recorded and the final mix was done abroad. Sam got to sing in one of them. We also produced a pop-rock album in Malayalam, Yaheere, which was a real trendsetter with the variety and different kind of music that we did. One of the songs, `First Kiss' was visualised and is often seen on TV.That was our first independent venture. We are now working on a fusion album, a raga-based one. It will have our own compositions, and the rest will be instrumental."

Manu who is also into event and artist coordination performs solo on his drums. "I do this on V Drums, virtual digital drums, which is meant for hardcore professionals, for two 20-minute sessions. I have plans to do a jamming session with some other percussion, perhaps a ghatom. I firmly believe that fusion is the brand for the future. There is still so much more to experiment on in fusion, especially between East and West."

K.PRADEEP

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