It is easy to form a musical band but very difficult to take it forward and maintain an individual identity within a crowd. However, multi-genre Hindi band Astitva has seen only growth since its inception in 2007.

The five-member band, which has Delhi’s anthem This is where I belong and the official song for Delhi Government’s Save the Girl Child campaign, Jeeny do to its credit, recently celebrated its fifth anniversary. The band had also performed during the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in 2010.

The event saw participation of members of some reputed bands like Rahul Ram of Indian Ocean, Subir Malik of Parikrama.

With so many musicians around, the focus of the event could not have been on anything else but music – obviously. The celebrations kicked off with the performance of the band’s students who got an opportunity to perform in front of so many eminent musicians. “We wanted the celebrations to start with our students,” said Zaman Khan, lead guitarist of Astitva. He himself had started playing guitar at the age of 10.

“It is very easy to form a band and always difficult to carry forward it successfully. Sometimes members either leave the band or are demotivated but we have seen only growth over the last few years,” he said.

The band members also gave an hour-long performance of some of their most popular compositions like Tu Hi Bataa, Mere Naina, Ab Na Ja besides the Delhi’s
anthem.

Founder and drummer of the band, Ayush Gupta said, “I didn’t expect the celebrations to be such a hit... On second thoughts, I didn’t expect the band to be such a hit.”
The brain behind the band and the head banging specialist, Ayush is a certified drummer from Trinity College of London.

He plays a huge role in adding rhythm to Astitva’s numbers. Other band
members include Salman Khan (vocalist), Kamal Kharera (keyboards) and Amit James (bass guitar).

The band has also provided background score in a film Valentine’s Night and is working on more films. The band’s popularity lies in its songs which are a blend of rock, jazz and Hindustani Classical with lyrics written in Hindi and Urdu.