Indian Ocean (band)

In the early 1980s, Asheem Chakravarty played tabla for a Bengali band Niharika. In 1984, Susmit Sen, a fan of Niharika, met him during a concert. Chakravarty was impressed by Sen's guitar-playing and his vision to evolve a new sound, while Sen, learned the nuances of rhythm from Chakravarty.

For the next 3 years, with Sen as the guitarist and Chakravarty on tabla and drums, they experimented with their music without writing original lyrics. Apart from a concert at Roorkee University, there were not many notable performances by them.

The name Indian Ocean was suggested by Sen's father in 1990. Shaleen Sharma was taken on as the drummer, and Indrajit Dutta and Anirban Roy as bassists. The band recorded a demo, with the help of Sen selling his electric guitar to raise the required money. The tape was 45 minutes long and consisted of 7 songs, all recorded in a single day. Despite the rushed recording, the quality of the demo tape impressed HMV and they were offered an album deal.

In 1991, Rahul Ram who was Sen's schoolmate at St. Xaviers, Delhi, joined the band replacing Anirban Roy on bass. They started work on their first album. To their frustration, the album took about a year to get finished. But when their eponymous debut album came out in 1993, it sold over 40,000 copies within a year of its release. It became the highest selling record by any Indian band at that time.

In 1994, drummer Shaleen Sharma left the band. He was replaced by Amit Kilam who was much younger than the other band members. Barely out of his teens, he was still taking his college exams. This line-up with Susmit Sen, Asheem Chakravarty, Rahul Ram and Amit Kilam became the most recognisable and the most successful in the band's timeline so far. Since then they rolled out a live album recorded and mixed on two tracks by Vikram Mishra Desert Rain and two studio albums Kandisa and Jhini. They also composed the soundtrack of Black Friday and contributed a couple of tracks to the soundtrack of Peepli Live.

In December 2009 the band lost Asheem Chakravarty. He was hospitalised in Doha in October, after suffering a heart attack. He was comatose for a brief period and recovered well.[5] On 25 December 2009 he died in New Delhi due to a cardiac arrest.[6]

Indian Ocean performing in Pune.

Indian Ocean has so far not announced any permanent replacement for Chakravarty. However, they have brought Himanshu Joshi to fill in for Chakravarty's vocals and Tuheen Chakravarty for tabla and other percussion which Asheem Chakravarty used to play.

The band announced release of their first studio album after the death of Asheem Chakravarty, 16/330 Khajoor Road. The band made the whole album available for download from their site by adding one new song each month.

The album 16/330 Khajoor Road was released in a two-CD pack. The album was recorded at Kshitij Studios, New Delhi and mixed by Aakash Gupta and Amit Kilam.

Later in 2015, the band was highly acclaimed by the critics and audience alike for their music in the film Masaan.

Asheem

Asheem (1957–2009) showed his rhythmic ability at an early age, surprising musicians who learned that he never had any formal training. He quit a career in advertising, along with Susmit Sen to form Indian Ocean, where he played the tabla, tarang and other percussion instruments while also being band's vocalist. Indian Ocean fans call him "the man with the golden voice". He sang and played the tabla simultaneously, a difficult feat rare by Indian percussionists. His rhythm structures were unique and contributed a large part to Indian Ocean's signature sound. He improvised vocal lines while on stage and was innovative with traditional Indian percussion instruments. He was brought up in an atmosphere of Indian classical, folk and other Indian forms of music.

Chakravarty was hospitalised in Doha after suffering a heart attack in October and was in a state of coma for a brief period, but was recovering well.[5] He died after suffering a cardiac arrest in New Delhi in the afternoon on 25 December 2009. He is survived by wife Sunita Chakravarty and son, Ekansh Chakravarty.[6][7]

Amit Kilam

Amit's drumming is a balance between the conventional and non-conventional. Largely self-taught, he believes in layering rhythm rather than a heavy drum layer, since he believes in simplicity, not technical wizardry, thus becoming the backbone of the solid sound that the band has. He incorporates Indian rhythms into his drumming in a unique fashion, moving in cycles of 8, 10, 12 14, 16, rather than simple 4/4 or ¾ styles. Not a "psychotic drummer", he goes easy on the skins, yet his playing is very dynamic. He was introduced to music at the age of 4 by his parents, learning the guitar (Hawaiian – Indian classical). He plays several instruments and sings also. He loves listening to various kinds of music – Hindi filmi, rock, pop – his favourites are A. R. Rahman, Trilok Gurtu and Deep Purple.

Rahul Ram, Bass Guitar and vocals

Ram's bass playing moves smoothly – from melodic enmeshing with vocal and guitar lines to the more standard laying of foundations over which the band soars. His stage presence is an essential part of Indian Ocean's live concerts. His vocals have a power and edge that emphasises the folk roots of the band. Rahul also does most of the talking at live shows. His experiences as an activist/supporter with the Narmada Bachao Andolan (1990–1995) and during his four years studying in the US have exposed him to a variety of musical styles from all over India and the world, and have strongly influenced his musical expression. Rahul got an M.Sc. in Chemistry from IIT Kanpur and has PhD in Environmental Toxicology from Cornell University in New York (1986–90). He's also a member of comedy group, Aisi Taisi Democracy.

Ram and Chakravarty have also sung "Yaara Maula" in Anurag Kashyap's Gulaal, a Hindi movie based on politics.

After Asheem, couple of percussionists jammed with the band. But The new line up became permanent when Tuheen joined the band in 2010.[8]

From a college boy who travelled 40 km each side to watch the band play live, just a day before his exam, to a full-time band member his journey has been full of unexpected turns. Nikhil, an engineer by qualification, had not thought of music as a career option. He met the band in Singapore while he was studying. In 2013, he was offered to be a part of the same after Susmit Sen’s departure.[9]

Nikhil Rao replaced Susmit Sen as lead guitarist in 2013.[10]

Susmit

Susmit who co-founded the group, is credited to have virtually invented a new style of playing the guitar, an Indian sound where "purity of scale reigns, strong melodic lines woven around the drone of open strings". His guitar style formed the basis of Indian Ocean's sound. According to him, his personal vision is towards finding a new vocabulary for his music. Susmit Sen released his solo debut album Depths of the Ocean in 2011 – an album which had been in the making for the last ten years.[11] Sen left the band in 2013 and was replaced by Nikhil Rao.[10]