JOIN USIndian Ocean’s seventh album, Tandanu, has seven songs with collaborations from seven different artistes across a variety of genres like blues, jazz, Carnatic, folk, rock and Hindustani. |
It gives variety to the album as a whole and celebrates 25 years of the band.
With a change in line-up, the band now comprises Rahul Ram on the bass guitar, Amit Kilam on the drums, Nikhil Rao on the guitar, Himanshu Joshi on the lead vocals and Tuheen Chakraborty on the tabla, percussions and vocals.
The first song, Gar Ho Sake, features Hindustani music exponent Shubha Mudgal.
In her energetic voice, she sings a song of protest, popular among the activists in North India (Gar ho sake to koi shama jalaaye/ Is daure siyast ka andhera mitaaye).
Behne Do is a youth anthem, which features Indian American music producer and percussionist, Karsh Kale.
The title song, Tandanu, is an old Kannada folk song from the Belur-Halebid region. Rahul Ram, the bass guitarist and vocalist, heard his aunt Vimala sing.
She is one of the three sisters — L G Vimala, L G Sumitra and L G Kamala — who performed on AIR in Bangalore in the 1950s-60s. This version of the song is sung by Shankar Mahadevan. Longing features Carnatic vocalist Kumaresh Rajagopalan, while Charkha features Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhat.
The song Cheetu features percussionist V Selvaganesh on the khanjira. It is a revolutionary Bengali song about Cheetu Bhil, a chieftain of the Bhil community, who fought against the British.
Roday is a song performed in collaboration with Vishal Dadlani.
The song has a mix of Hindi, Kashmiri and Sindhi in it. The album demonstrates the diversity of India.