THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:
Tabla rolls and glides from the sarangi mingled with the booming western drums and electric guitars as Indian-Austrian music group Ashram performed a fusion rock concert at the Manaveeyam Veedhi this evening, regaling the music buffs who gathered in large numbers.
The cultural corridor of the state capital resonated with classical Indian melodies, sacred Sanskrit chants and pulsating rock vocals during the concert that featured 18 artistes. The New Year high-voltage pop concert was organised by Goethe-Zentrum together with the Corporation of Thiruvananthapuram.
Ashram, whose musicians came together in 2004 to form a cross-continental band, has held a string of concerts in Europe and India. Among other things, they presented a second album ‘Prison Without Walls’ in around 100 jails from northern Germany to Thiruvananthapuram.
Embarking on a new era, the band has dedicated the last few years to the cult novel Siddhartha by Nobel laureate Hermann Hesse. This hugely inspirational book, which deals with the spiritual journey of a boy, Siddhartha, from the Indian subcontinent during the time of Lord Buddha, shows a path of duality and circles in samsara (cycles of birth, misery, and death caused by karma), which is what the band embodies by breathing music to connect the world.
For some time, Ashram has been planning the reunion of the intercontinental band and the release of a third album ‘Siddharth’ this year as part of this venture and also play a short tour through Austria, Switzerland, Germany and India.
Inspired by the spirit of Siddhartha, the band transformed their years of Indian experiences and spiritual adventures into their own songs. The music and lyrics, written in Sanskrit and English, attempt to bring a modern Buddha Gautama Siddhartha into the year 2024. The band has dedicated the new songs and the concerts to the life’s work of Hermann Hesse.
In 2006, Ashram recorded its first album in Thiruvananthapuram. A year later, in August and September, they presented their first album (‘Ashram’) and played more than 30 gigs across Germany and Austria in the following tour.
Ashram’s second album was mixed by 16-time Grammy Award winner Thom Russo (thomrusso.net). He has worked with some of the biggest names in the international music scene beyond Ashram, including Eric Clapton and Michael Jackson.
In the words of ‘Ashram’ members: “Sounds of Indian tabla mixed with guitar riffs, mystic sitar tones and Far East voices embedded in fundamentally Western rock grooves is Oriental Rock, the unique sound of Indian European fusion.”
