Its time for Mysoreans to tap their feet to the tunes of rock show of the band Stone Age on March 31 evening at Vanaranga of Rangayana, writes S Shivaranjini
Stone Age is a rock band of eight members formed in 2008 by two enthusiasts Madhu and Srikanta, who were then student artists in Rangayana.
When Bassist and lyricist N P Madhusudhan (Madhu) and drummer N Srikantaswamy (Srikanta) came up with the idea of forming a band and approached Cheeni (Srinivas Bhat), music director of Rangayana, he gracefully guided the youth. Along with him Myaboo Bobbby and Philip encouraged the idea of these two boys. Stone Age was a troupe in 1970s of which Cheeni was a part but did not last long with migration of members.
Madhu and Srikant found the name appropriate ‘Stone Age’ meaning, music and fame of their band to be forever like a stone.
“Rangayana is like our home. We have learnt a lot from there and received immense support for innovations and experiments,” says Madhu, lead artist of the troupe who is also theatre artist and completed masters in psychology from University of Mysore.
Birth of Stone Age
Srikanta, drummer of Stone Age, described as heartbeat of the troupe, is a percussionist. He says, “we never dreamt of having a band. It was while watching TV once, we got the idea and started working towards it seriously. We purchased guitar, drum set one by one and now we have realised, we have to work more hard.”
It was in 2010 Bappi Blossom(Bappi) of Mandya and Poornachandra (Poorna) joined the troupe. Bappi is the lead vocalist, guitarist, lyricist, keyboard player and also composer of the band. She has learnt classical music and is also a theatre artist. Poorna is a software developer. He is composer and sound engineer in the band.
Bappi says, “The troupe has endless dreams. It is very difficult for Indian rock bands to meet the standards of International level, because of the fusion involved in our music. But we have the aim of reaching international heights, as all in the troupe are amateur artists.”
Panner Selvam (Selva), guitarist in the band is pursuing PhD in Pharmacy. N Nanjundaswamy (Baadal), is vocalist of the band. He is a drawing and painting artist and an art director in theatre and films.
Sundaresh Devapriyam (Munna), B Com student, is the guitarist in the troupe. He is a classical singer, theatre artist, plays harmonica and also string instruments.
K R Varsha Shenoy (Varsha), is also a classical music and theatre artist doing her BSc . She plays veena, mandolin, guitar and harmonica.
Previous performances
Stone Age had previously performed at Chinnara Mela and Laajee Café and received a lot of appreciation.
According to Madhu, wave of rock music concerts after 1970s and 80s decreased due to movies. And presently there is no rock band in Mysore. Students during the academics form a band which is dispersed with their migrations for professions. He wants their band to live forever with no limits of time. Their performance in Vanaranga is to launch the full fledged rock band ‘Stone Age’. There was no rock show held in Vanaranga, though a jazz music concert once. Nearly 15 songs will be performed.
So gear up and head for Vanaranga. The show starts at 6.30 pm.