Subir Malik, organist and band manager of Parikrama mulls the journey of the band through the past 25 years with Christy Varghese
In its 2014 listing of 25 greatest Indian rock songs in the last 25 years, a popular music magazine featured ‘But it rained’, a single by Parikrama, recorded back in 1996. Twenty years down the line, the song still does not fail to ignite the crowd’s passion.
Hard Rock Café (HRC) had organised a series of simultaneous gigs across the country to spread the fervor of beats and rhythms for the World Music Day.
To those of you who are not aware, Parikrama, completed 25 years in the music circuit on June 17. You would be further amazed to know that Parikrama started out as a four month project, according to the organist cum band manager of Parikrama, Subir Malik. “let alone 25 years, we did not even expect to last six months as a band. I was supposed to take hold of the family business of motor parts dealings after the four month stint. But then in our first season itself we played over 40 gigs, which came as a big surprise to us. And, needless to say, we were hooked on to the music scene,” is what Malik told us after delivering a scintillating performance onstage.
As a band, they have a reputation of not only doing away with the rulebook but also tearing out the pages. Unlike most bands today, Parikrama gives out their music for free on its official website. The band boasts of millions of downloads from their site and other related pages and does not have any policies against their music being copied and distributed as such.
Malik told us that the members do not completely rely on music for their bread and butter. “The music season lasts from September to March and the remaining period tends to be somewhat lean. To complement our earnings from our performances, each of us have alternate modes of earning. I, for one, am into artist management and Sonam Sherpa, the lead guitarist, is in charge of the Parikrama School of Music,” he said. According to him, this actually helps the band because whenever they come together, free from their respective strenuous jobs, they are eager to get down to making some good music.
The band has survived through thick and thin, but the last 25 years have been a piece of cake which Malik humbly attributed to the brilliant chemistry that the members share. According to him, “Each member of the band brings to the table his own individual brilliance. It is this varying individuality which gives Parikrama its own individual sound.” And needless to say, there have been numerous humorous incidents throughout. “This might not seem funny to you, but in the late 90s, one of our female fans tattooed Nitin’s name on her arm. We suspect it was done in a drunk stupor. We met her a couple of years back; she is married now, has a couple of kids and still flaunts the tattoo. The whole incident was hilarious to us, now that I think of it only Nitin did not find it funny,” Malik laughed.
When we asked him about his favourite bands, Malik named The Who, Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd as notable groups which have inspired Parikrama’s music. But then he asserts the fact that Indian bands ought not to be written off, and are much worthy of our attention. “Back in my college heydays, when I was in Kirori Mal, Indus Creed, which went by the name of Rock Machine back then, held a concert at our college. At that time, I could do nothing but gape in awe at the phenomenal group, but then later I knew that that was what I wanted for myself too, to be up on the stage, catering to thousands of music lovers,” he recounted.
Indus Creed still happens to be a notable name in Indian rock music scene but now there are numerous acts which are worthy of our attention. “Some time back, I happened to witness a Delhi based band, The Circus, live. And I was astounded at their electrifying performance, and it's not just them. I am happy to know that there are thousands of bands which have surfaced in the past decade, with each having its own distinct tunes,” smiled Malik.
He vehemently agreed that in today’s times, the rock and roll scenario in India is definitely not dull. In fact it seems to be burning brighter than ever before. And being the only musical genius around at that moment, we were bound to believe him.