Bharat Swamy

Last updated

Bharat Swamy led the first commercially successful rock band in India. [1] He is one of the pioneers of rock music in India, and was the original composer, songwriter and vocalist for the band Agni. [2] He is an engineer by profession, but always wanted to be one of the pioneers of rock music in India with his own compositions. [3]

Agni the Band : Formed in 1985 by Pravin Bell, Bharath and Juggie, Agni (spelled Agni) has stood the test of time to become one of the most loved rock bands in the country. It grew up struggling with sub-standard instruments and disinterested recording labels, but always with the goal of carving an identity of their own. In 1992 Agni came out of its childhood with Rustom (Ross) Kayani and Kaustubh (Koko) Dhavale joining the band. And it translated all its restless energy and hunger for succour (very much a hall mark of Agni, the Firegod) into a creative force that could not be denied. And from Pune[s best band they grew into one of the premier rock acts in India.

A record company, Virgo, took notice and their first album, Wind Dance With Fire, was released in 1993. In spite of poor production values on their first video, Darkening Light, their supporters were delighted with the air time on MTV and the album sold more than 60,000 copies all over the country. In fact, their appeal was such that 10,000 CDs were sold out within the first four days. The band toured all over the country, from the plushness of Delhi’s Holiday Inn and the grimness of Tihar Jail to the rocky heights of the North East. The number, Kashmir, is chanted by crowds till this day whenever and wherever they take the stage.

Agni Webbed

In 2020, Bharat Swamy launched Agni Webbed, a digital rock venture that is seen as a promising online platform. [4] He released the original song The Monster Within in May 2020 and was awarded the highest ratings for the first half of 2020 by the music communication portal Music Plus. [5] The song The Monster Within highlights the theme of depression, in order to reach out to all those who may be going through difficult and tough times with the COVID-19 pandemic throughout the world. The track has been mixed and mastered by Ashish Manchanda of Media Tribe.
Bharat Swamy has recently released a new platform that both tackles the taboo topic and helps struggling young musicians. [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metallica</span> American heavy metal band

Metallica is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrumentals and aggressive musicianship made them one of the founding "big four" bands of thrash metal, alongside Megadeth, Anthrax and Slayer. Metallica's current lineup comprises founding members and primary songwriters Hetfield and Ulrich, longtime lead guitarist Kirk Hammett, and bassist Robert Trujillo. Guitarist Dave Mustaine, who formed Megadeth after being fired from Metallica, and bassists Ron McGovney, Cliff Burton and Jason Newsted are former members of the band.

Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as "rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States and United Kingdom. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, a style that drew directly from the blues and rhythm and blues genres of African-American music and from country music. Rock also drew strongly from a number of other genres such as electric blues and folk, and incorporated influences from jazz, classical, and other musical styles. For instrumentation, rock has centered on the electric guitar, usually as part of a rock group with electric bass guitar, drums, and one or more singers. Usually, rock is song-based music with a 4
4
time signature
using a verse–chorus form, but the genre has become extremely diverse. Like pop music, lyrics often stress romantic love but also address a wide variety of other themes that are frequently social or political. Rock was the most popular genre of music in the United States and much of the Western world from the 1950s to the 2000s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Screaming Lord Sutch</span> English musician and founder of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party

Screaming Lord Sutch was an English musician and perennial parliamentary candidate. He was the founder of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party and served as its leader from 1983 to 1999, during which time he stood in numerous parliamentary elections. He holds the record for contesting the most Parliamentary elections, standing in 39 elections from 1963 to 1997. As a singer, he variously worked with Keith Moon, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Ritchie Blackmore, Charlie Watts, John Bonham, Noel Redding, Mitch Mitchell and Nicky Hopkins, and is known for his recordings with Joe Meek including "Jack the Ripper" (1963).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bon Jovi</span> American rock band

Bon Jovi is an American rock band formed in 1983 in Sayreville, New Jersey. It consists of singer Jon Bon Jovi, keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, guitarist Phil X, and bassist Hugh McDonald. Original bassist Alec John Such quit the band in 1994, and longtime guitarist and co-songwriter Richie Sambora left in 2013. The band has been credited with "[bridging] the gap between heavy metal and pop with style and ease".

Christian rock is a form of rock music that features lyrics focusing on matters of Christian faith, often with an emphasis on Jesus, typically performed by self-proclaimed Christian individuals. The extent to which their lyrics are explicitly Christian varies between bands. Many bands who perform Christian rock have ties to the contemporary Christian music labels, media outlets, and festivals, while other bands are independent.

Alternative country, or alternative country rock, is a loosely defined subgenre of country music and/or country rock that includes acts that differ significantly in style from mainstream country music, mainstream country rock, and country pop. Alternative country artists are often influenced by alternative rock. Most frequently, the term has been used to describe certain country music and country rock bands and artists that are also defined as or have incorporated influences from alternative rock, heartland rock, Southern rock, progressive country, outlaw country, neotraditional country, Texas country, Red Dirt, honky-tonk, bluegrass, rockabilly, psychobilly, roots rock, indie rock, hard rock, folk revival, indie folk, folk rock, folk punk, punk rock, cowpunk, blues punk, blues rock, emocore, post-hardcore, and rhythm 'n' blues.

<i>Gold Against the Soul</i> 1993 album by Manic Street Preachers

Gold Against the Soul is the second studio album by Welsh alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers. It was released on 21 June 1993 by record label Columbia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indus Creed</span> Indian rock band

Indus Creed is an Indian rock band based in Mumbai. The group was founded in 1984 as Rock Machine and renamed in 1993. They disbanded in 1997, only to regroup in 2010 with a new lineup.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cinderella (band)</span> American glam metal band

Cinderella was an American rock band formed in 1983 in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The band emerged in the mid-1980s with a series of multi-platinum studio albums and hit singles whose music videos received heavy MTV rotation and popularity. Cinderella initially had a glam metal sound throughout the late 1980s before shifting into a more blues rock-based sound during the early to mid 1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social Distortion</span> American punk rock band

Social Distortion is an American punk rock band formed in 1979 in Fullerton, California. The band currently consists of Mike Ness, Jonny Wickersham, Brent Harding, David Hidalgo Jr. (drums), and David Kalish (keyboards).

Thelonious Monster is an American punk rock band from Los Angeles, California, led by singer-songwriter Bob Forrest and named after jazz musician Thelonious Monk. Active from 1984 to 1994, again from 2004 to 2011, and reforming a second time in 2019, the band has released five original studio albums. It has been described as having "traced emotional dips and bends with exceptional acuity and impact".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The 69 Eyes</span> Finnish rock band

The 69 Eyes are a Finnish gothic rock band. It was founded in 1989 in Helsinki by vocalist Jyrki 69, guitarists Bazie, Timo-Timo and bassist Archzie, joined in 1992 by drummer Jussi 69; the lineup never changed since then. The 69 Eyes music blends gothic rock with glam metal and rock 'n' roll in a style that was dubbed "goth'n'roll".

Crawdaddy was an American rock music magazine launched in 1966. It was created by Paul Williams, a Swarthmore College student at the time, in response to the increasing sophistication and cultural influence of popular music. The magazine was named after the Crawdaddy Club in London and published during its early years as Crawdaddy!.

<i>No Depression</i> (album) 1990 studio album by Uncle Tupelo

No Depression is the first studio album by alternative country band Uncle Tupelo, released in June 1990. After its formation in the late 1980s, Uncle Tupelo recorded the Not Forever, Just for Now demo tape, which received a positive review by the College Media Journal in 1989. The review led to the band's signing with what would become Rockville Records later that year. The album was recorded with producers Sean Slade and Paul Q. Kolderie at Fort Apache Studios, on a budget of US$3,500.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indian Ocean (band)</span> Folk-fusion music band from India

Indian Ocean is an Indian rock band formed in New Delhi in 1990, who are widely recognized as the pioneers of the fusion rock genre in India. Susmit Sen, Asheem Chakravarty, Rahul Ram and Amit Kilam were band members until Chakravarty died on 25 December 2009, after which Tuheen Chakravorty and Himanshu Joshi were officially inducted into the band as successors. After the departure of Susmit Sen in 2013, Rahul Ram is the only founding member who appeared on the band's debut album Indian Ocean. Sanjeev Sharma has collaborated with them as lyricist on many albums.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen</span> American rock band

Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen were an American rock band founded in 1967. The group's leader and co-founder was pianist and vocalist George Frayne IV, alias Commander Cody.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indian rock</span> Rock music subgenre that takes influences from Indian music

Indian rock is a music genre in India that may incorporate elements of Indian music with rock music, and is often topically India-centric. While India is more often known for its classical music, filmi, Bollywood music, Indi-pop, and Bhangra, the Indian rock scene has also produced numerous bands and artists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ron Keel</span> American singer

Ron Keel is an American rock singer. He is known as the singer for Ron Keel Band, Keel, Steeler, and Saber Tiger, and has also fronted IronHorse, Fair Game, and The Rat'lers, in addition to being a solo artist. He is also an author, radio show host, actor and owner/manager of RFK Media LLC.

Pakistani popular music or shortly Pakistani pop music refers to popular music forms in Pakistan. Pakistani pop is a mixture of traditional Pakistani classical music and western influences of jazz, rock and roll, hip hop and disco sung in various languages of Pakistan, including Urdu. The popularity of music is based on the individual sales of a single, viewership of its music video or the singer's album chart positions. Apart from within Pakistan, Pakistani pop music has also achieved an influential following and popularity in neighboring countries and is listened by members of the Pakistani diaspora, especially in the Middle East, Europe and North America.

Bangladeshi rock music, or Bangla rock music, is a style of music in Bangladesh that is derived from British and American rock music, mixed with Bengali classical and adhunik musical styles from the 1960s. The genre was introduced in the 1960s by a few bands who began developing a distinctive rock sound of Bangladesh. Bangladeshi rock is commonly divided into two categories; the "East Pakistan" rock scene, and the "Bangladesh" rock scene. From the 1970s to the 2000s, it was one of the nation's most popular musical genres.

References

  1. Katiyar, Arun (1993). "Indian pop stars start to gain international exposure, make big money". No. 15 April 1993. India Today. India Today. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  2. "Buzz! Agni Webbed Releases Music About Mental Health In Quarantine". RSJ Online. Rock Street Journal. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  3. Partner Content. "Depression, death and rock n' roll: Bharat Swamy tells of giving live wire act Agni Webbed a reboot". Friday. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
  4. Ferreira, Verus (16 May 2020). "Agni's Bharat Swamy returns with a Monster Track 'The Monster Within'". Musicunplugged.in. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  5. "Indie music releases from the first half of May 2020- Reviewed". Music Plus. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  6. Partner Content. "Depression, death and rock n' roll: Bharat Swamy tells of giving live wire act Agni Webbed a reboot". Friday. Retrieved 27 June 2020.