Swarathma

Swarathma was formed in 2002 in Mysore when vocalist and songwriter Vasu Dixit met Abhinanth Kumar on guitars with the objective of creating original music. Joined by K J Pavan on percussions and Arjun on the violin, they were the original line-up. Dixit left in 2003 to pursue a Masters in Film and Video Communication from the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, leading to the band taking a two-year break, but regrouped in 2006 with Montry Manuel on drums.[7]

Vasu Dixit is the lead singer of Swarathma performing in a concert at New Delhi

The first break for Swarathma came when they won Radio City Live 2006, an SMS based contest for Bangalore's best band, conducted by the FM radio station Radio City on 30 September 2006.[8] The fresh original sound of the band won them the contest coupled with the fact that they played a song "Ee Bhoomi" (This Earth) in Kannada. The show ended with a jam session with leading Indian rock band Parikrama. Swarathma continued to play shows in and around Bangalore, gaining popularity and building a fan-base, while searching for a record label who would release the band's music.

Owing to other professional commitments, Abhinanth, Arjun and guitar-player Dheeraj Joseph could not continue full-time with the band. Over the year 2007, they were joined by Sanjeev Nayak on the Violin, Varun on lead guitar and Jishnu Dasgupta[9] on bass guitar who earlier played with the band bodhiTree, from XLRI Jamshedpur.[10] The varying musical backgrounds of the members caused the music to evolve.

The new line-up played at various venues including the prestigious Mysore Yuva Dasara Habba,[11] the celebrations of the Indian festival Dasara in November 2007. Sharing the stage with other noted artistes like Usha Uthup, and Sunidhi Chauhan[12] the band was lauded for the strength of the compositions and on-stage energy.

Sanjeev Nayak and Vasu Dixit at Fireflies Festival 2008

The band was nominated in three of the eight categories of the Jack Daniels Indian Rock Awards[13] 2008, including Best Vocalist, Best Song and Best Album/EP.[14]

This was the first time that a song in Kannada was nominated for such an award.

Swarathma also played at the Fireflies Festival of Sacred Music held off Kanakapura Road in Bangalore every year on 23 February 2008. They featured alongside artistes such as Oikotyaan in the night long festival.[15]

Vasu, his steed and Jishnu

In early 2008, Radio City re-launched Radio City Live,[16] a nationwide hunt for India's best Hindi band.[17] Selecting from over 100 entries from bands across India, Swarathma made it to the national finals with a winning performance.[18][19]

The band flew to New Delhi for its first show outside Karnataka at the Garden of Five Senses. Pitted against six other top bands from across the country, Swarathma delivered a powerful performance that won them the Radio City Live title.[20] In press interviews the band said that it was a combination of theatric showmanship and musical effort that brought them this honour.,[21] coupled with the fact that the onstage energy came from close relationships that band-members shared amongst themselves.[22] Palash Sen of Euphoria, one of the judges of the event said, "This is the moment we've all been eagerly been waiting for - Swarathma being declared India's best Hindi Band!".[23] This was one of the band's biggest moments.[24]

Swarathma entered Kshitiz Studios, New Delhi in July 2008 to record their debut album with EMI Music India as part of winning RC Live[25] with Amit Kilam as the producer. Being the drummer for Indian Ocean, a band that Swarathma had looked up to since formation, he was able to translate the band's vision onto the CD.[26] However the recording took longer than expected with vocal parts being re-recorded in Bangalore over November 2008. It was mixed at Audio Track, Chennai and mastered by Ty Degroff at The Final Sound, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA.

The debut album released on 5 January 2009 on Virgin Records to mostly positive reviews.[27] The freshness of sound coupled with insightful, sensitive lyrics touching upon subjects as varied as India's economic regeneration and personal journeys made Rolling Stone magazine give it four stars and describe it as "the next level" of Indian rock.[28] The band supported the album with an aggressive tour schedule playing at major Indian cities, despite a freak accident leading to Vasu's shoulder dislocation.[29]

In March 2008, Swarathma were chosen as one of the four Indian acts to be part of the India Soundpad Sessions, a project bringing together emerging artistes from India and UK's top producer John Leckie[30] to collaborate and record together in a series of special studio sessions set to take place in India. Leckie was impressed by the band's brand of folk-infused indie-rock describing it as "celebratory, and totally unlike anything you would get in Britain".[31] In October 2008, Swarathma entered the Yash Raj Studios with John Leckie and Massive Attack producer Dan Austin to record two tracks for a compilation album funded by the British Council.[32]

The project also featured Indigo Children, Medusa and Advaita in an effort to showcase the Indian independent music scene. The album released in May 2009 to mixed reviews, however Swarathma received consistently positive feedback owing to the infectious live energy apparent on the recordings.[34] In October 2009, the song "Jamba" from this compilation was picked up by the Music Alliance Pact featuring the top indie songs from 33 countries.[35]

In May 2009 Swarathma went on a mini-tour of the UK in support of the Soundpad album, their first international tour.[36] They played two showcases at The Great Escape Festival, one at The Arc and the other at Horatio's Bar on the Brighton Pier[37] where they managed to get the largely British crowd sing along to Indian lyrics.[38] Those exposed to Swarathma's theatrics-heavy stage act described it variously influenced by krautrock, garage punk and ska while reaffirming its earthy appeal.[39]

With a slew of new songs written over the years Swarathma went into studios with producer Loy Mendonsa to record its second album titled Topiwalleh. The album featured darker overtones and a heavier sound

that was positively received. The title song was actively used by the band to speak out against corruption in politics while other songs like 'Aaj ki Taaza Fikar' and 'Ghum' spoke about issues like media sensationalism and child sexual abuse. The band heavily toured with the album winning critical and popular acclaim across the country. Upon the release the band was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone.[41] Following the release drummer Montry Manuel left the band to pursue his solo percussion project Thaalavattam.[42]