Brahmm's debut album features their popular singles like Ravana, Hrut, Shavyatra, Kabristan, Boom Shiva and Shivraag. Vinit R Rai, the lead vocalist and composer, talks about the popularity of Vedic Rock in India
Vedic Rock has been a niche choice but the number of its admirers is increasing by leaps and bounds. The fact that Brahmm’s track Ravana ruled the roost for the longest time in VH1 WORM list shows the growing fascination for the genre. After a year’s lull, the hitmaker band is now upbeat for its comeback with its latest track Shavyatra. Basically, Shavyatra is the last stage of a human soul on Earth and first stage of the soul’s journey to the spirit world. “In Hindu beliefs, we call it Shavyatra, where we carry the dead body till the pyre and later burn it. The story behind our track started in 2010 when the lead guitarist Mrinal and I were on a drive and had to stop due to a Shavyatra on the way. As we saw it performing, we decided to dedicate a compostion to it. It was an instant idea,” says Vinit R Rai, the lead vocalist and composer of the band.
Brahmm was formed in Jodhpur after a group of young boys delivered a number of performances in Rajasthan. Apart from Vinit, the band has Kushagra Mathur as lyricist and Mrinal Thapa on guitar. “After doing few gigs, we decided to choose our music as profession. So we went to Pune and add more members in the group. Bidhan Rai (guitar), Krishnendu Singha (bass) and Shashank Naidu (drum) joined us,” he says.
Brahmm is also working on tracks Shivraag and Boom Shiva. “Our intention is to cover most of the vedic stuff. Now being ‘Shiva believers’ it is a kind of strange influence or energy that makes us create Shiva stuff. Talking about compositions, so there are just 2 tracks we currently have which are particularly on Shiva, Shivraag and Boom Shiva. Before and while creating music all we think about is Bholenath,” says Vinit.
Why did the band take an year’s breakIJ “The band was recording the debut album last year when I met with an accident while I was in my hometown Jodhpur. I dislocated my arm that took several months to recover. After getting a little better, we resumed our recordings and now our complete focus is on our album. Once we are done with the recording, we would start gigging the way we did before,” he says.
The forthcoming album will feature popular compositions and the new ones being created by the band. “Our debut album Bhramm that has all our appreciated tracks like Ravana, Hrut, Shavyatra, Bhramm, Kabristan, Boom Shiva and Shivraag. Out of these, Ravana and Hrut were released earlier while Brahmm will be released soon,” he says.
Vinit says the band doesn’t have musical influences but is inspired by the real life experiences. “We are not inspired by any artist. Six people from different cultures are influenced by their lives and circumstances they’ve been raised in. When we six sit together, it forms another kind of territory. It’s like Samudra-manthan. Having said that we have high regards for bands like Indian Ocean, Agni for their courageous contribution towards music,” he says. How do you look at the evolution and growing opportunities for indie music in IndiaIJ
“There has always been scope for such music as this is the real and most creative form of Indian music. People have been deeply influenced by Bollywood in our country but now since past couple of years the scenario has changed. Now people do understand independent music and appreciates it too. Every indie artist has a dream to change the music scene in Bollywood, to replace the item numbers with original Indian music. looking at the increasing graph of such artists, we can expect fresh music in Bollywood in coming years which would definitely take our country and our art to a different and unmatchable level,” he says.