Vapors

    

Vapors reflects the creative musical expression of a group of Bay area residents. The music of Vapors will have its roots in East Indian folk/Baul and contemporary traditions but will be garnished with influences from gentle balladic rock & roll melodies, jazz, and new age sounds. Vapors currently has 10 members, including 4 vocalists. Instrumental accompaniment will be provided in the form of Lead Guitar, Bass Guitar, Rhythm Guitar, Keyboard, Drums, Tabla and various percussions such as Khamok, Dhol, Cabasa etc. Vapors' vocalists and musicians have extensive experience performing in front of a live audience. Some of the band members have recorded songs with established Bands in Kolkata and won accolades/prizes in various widely popular competitions in Bengal.

Our debut performances were on Sept 27, 2009. We played for Prabasi in the afternoon (PICTURES), and for Baybasi in the night (PICTURES). More information is available at the Band Website
   
   
   
   
   
   


Bangla Avenue

   

A band formed with Ifthekar and Gautam in Buffalo, NY. We performed in some local school functions, and did some recordings on the side. In the remix "Aicha", Kamran came in as a rapper, who wrote his own stuff, and Devika added the female vocals in the 2nd part of the song. We performed this live on stage.

Below you can view a couple of our performances in the local Buffalo school social events. These videos were recorded by our friends in the audience, hence the poor quality.
   
   


Ultravires

   

This was my first ever "rock band" formed while I was in Jadavpur University, Kolakta, INDIA doing my undergrad studies. We had 6 fixed members: Satyaki on Lead, Arka on Rhythm, Pom on Drums,
Purnendu on Vocals, Amit on Vocals, and I was on Keyborad and Harmonica. The 7th floating member
was our Basist and we had quite few in our times. This picture was taken while we performed on our home ground in JU Sanskriti 1997.

The recordings are from our live performance at Shibpur B.E. College annual fest called Rebecca (first 5 songs) and IIM-Calcutta annual competition (last 5 songs), all in the year of 1997. We did have a lot of fun on stage inspite of lots of mistakes and pumped up adrenaline goof ups. We were ameaturs and were still learning to use our equipments properly. The recording quality is poor, but these serve as great memory boosters for us.

Joy Bhaduri's Band

This was the highlight of my college life as a keyboard player in a band. I was mad lucky to have played with Joy Bhaduri and his Band at the Great Indian Rock (GIR) Concert Part 2, organized by the one and only Rock Street Journal (RSJ). This was later broadcasted on MTV Asia as they were one of the primary sponsors.

The Great Indian Rock Festival started in 1995 and its inaugural show was held in Delhi at the Hamsadhwani Open Air Theater, Pragati Maidan, it featured some of the biggest names today ranging from Parikrama, Orange Street, and Indian Ocean. I played in GIR-2 which was held in the Open Air Theater near Lake Gardens in Kolkata. Over the years GIR became a platform for Indian bands to showcase their skills and talent and a variety of bands participated have gone on to become some of the most well known names in the country and abroad. The festival's primary home has been Delhi with an occasional foray into Mumbai.

The main aim of The Great Indian Rock was to offer a platform for musicians to express themselves. It slowly steered the scene away from playing covers and encouraged artists to write and perform their own music. The Great India Rock has been integral in the explosion of innovative and original music in India. Many big bands today have credited The Great Indian Rock for their success. It has changed the way people look at Rock music in India. Bands have benefited from the exposure and that added push to play their own music which has also opened up new and exciting avenues in the realm of Indian Rock music.

Hathat Jhalok

   

This was a group formed by some of the brothers and sisters who lived in Adhunika, Lake Gardens in Kolkata, INDIA. These songs are not performance recordings. Rather they are the practice session recordings (via internal microphone of a cassette recorder) for Durga Pujo 1996, that capture all our discussions, faults, analysis, and mayhem that has made this one of the most memorable experiences in all our lives.