A bird does not sing because it has answers, a bird sings because it has a song. Not all may have heard of INDIAN OCEAN, but once you hear their compositions, it is difficult to break the spell of their music. Indian Ocean is , a group consisting of four intensely dedicated and talented musicians- Sushmit Sen on the acoustic guitar, Ashee Chakravarti on tabla, percussion and vocals, Amit Kilam on Drums, percussion and vocals and Rahul Ram on bass guitar and vocals.
This band creates music that brooks no compromise or adjustment, but is free flowing, fluent and melodic; music that embraces influences with abandon and pays tribute to melody, harmony and individualistic vision. They use vocals as an instrument, rather than a standard verse-chorus format. Their music combines the contemporary Indian spirit of a heritage both ancient and modern classical, folk, rock, reggae or just plainly intuitive.
It's difficult to say where the roots of INDIAN OCEAN lie. Did it begin with 6-year-old Asheem playing on the tabla? Or with Sushmit trying to develop his own style of guitar playing and composing while still in college? They played a few concerts as a duo, only self-compositions, an acoustic guitar and a percussion ensemble where Asheem played the tabla and a partial drum kit with his hands (and no vocals in sight). Audience lapped up every note of their compositions and the duo started to experiment with other musicians.
Finally in 1990, INDIAN OCEAN was formed, with a drummer (Shaleen Sharma) and a bass player. This first line-up recorded a demo-album in an incredible 45 minutes and 7 songs in just one day! Rahul, a schoolmate of Sushmit's had been playing bass with rock bands in school and college, and joined the band in 1991. After much struggle and a lot of persuasive talking by Sushmit Sen and hearing of the demonstration tape, INDIAN OCEAN was signed on by HMV for one album. Even though this album was recorded in Dec '92, it could another year before it could be released. Finally in 1993,Indian Ocean's self-titled debut album hit the market.
Fortunes didn't change overnight for members of this band. There was absolutely no publicity for this album. The band wrote up a press release with the help of a journalist friend, and did the rounds of newspaper/ magazine offices with a handful of cassettes. Indian Ocean got some highly encouraging reviews, and the album went on to sell nearly 40, 000 copies. As was destined, Shaleen, the drummer who had left in November '93, was replaced by Amit, who had impressed the other three with his talent at a rock concert. Thus the current composition of the band got together. Endless sessions of practice preceded innumerable live shows of Indian Ocean. The sound of all their compositions became tighter and crisper and contrary to the instrumental experimentation alone. And they have a way of the usual rounds of music companies fetched them the usual promises, but nothing materialised for them for an agonisingly long time. When not staging shows, the band-members individually and severally made music for TV serials, commercials and documentaries.
The year 1997 began with a proverbial bang! On January 1, they played at the SAHMAT show on the road to Mandi House (New Delhi) after waiting nearly seven hours to go onstage. The show began quickly but picked up rapidly, and we Indian Ocean played one of their best shows ever. (That�s what they say) The impact of this show was worth its wait in gold! Hearing its DAT later raised hopes of a reasonable live album (This concept is however relatively new and unheard of, in India) Naresh Bhatia, a Delhi-based music distributor agreed to release this album on a independent label, created specially for this purpose. After long hours of mastering in a Mumbai studio, the album now famous as DESERT RAIN was released in March '97 at a concert in Max Muller Bhavan. (Central Delhi) Without the backing of banner, Desert Rain could reach even the outskirts of Capital. (Except of course, pirated copies of this album can still be found in tourist-rich Kathmandu) Desert Rain nevertheless has been extremely popular and successful album within Delhi circles. It got extensive press coverage for Indian Ocean, and the band appeared on newspapers, magazines, and televisions shows including Amul India Show, Aaj Tak, Good Morning India. Star News featured them as special guests in the entertainment section.
Meanwhile the stage shows had begun to display a sea change. Indian Ocean finally became an exiting stage act. Concerned efforts were made to bring in movement colour. They have since played across the country- playing to different audience of all shades and sizes. The musical voyage of Indian Ocean saw a stopover at Khajuraho Millennium celebration last year, where they played before the President of India. Then, sometime in the monsoon of '98, Indian Ocean was signed on an exclusive contract by Times music. To release their third album aptly titled 'Kandisa' [Praise].
The principal trait of the band and their music is their utter confidence in their cultural identity and the ease with which they incorporate their combined heritage. Also, from an almost unplugged sound, the group has become cohesive and hugely mature. There is a degree of spirituality and service in the tracks and above all, there is a good deal of power in the compositions. There is a lot of water waiting to be swam in, in the Indian Ocean, take the plunge today.
Sushmit Sen was earlier working as marketing executive in an old music company. Rahul Ram is a trained toxicologist, having a doctorate in environmental sciences. Asheem Chakravarti left his high-profile career as Creative Director in an advertising firm to pursue a full-time career in music. Amit Kilam is a graduate from Karori Mal College (Delhi) and was playing drums for various music groups while in college. Their Major Influences are: Mostly classical Indian music, be it Hindustani or Carnatic. They've even roped in rock, reggae and yes, even metal sounds in their tracks. Hindi film music and folk tunes have left a greater impact on their latest works. " We are open to all forms of music and then express it in our own way. Our music is an expression of our ideas and thoughts in musical notes."