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| The Lankan boys |
| Neha Bhatt / New Delhi Sep 27, 2009, 00:58 IST |
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The youth in Sri Lanka have much to say about the politics of war and censorship in their country and they are saying it through music.
They have lived through a long-standing civil war and now they are singing about it. Paranoid Earthling, one of Sri Lanka’s popular rock bands, are almost rebel-like in their musical avatar, if you would care to listen. On a sultry Delhi afternoon, the band of four, twenty-something boys, and their charming lady manager are sipping beer at Hard Rock Cafe, ostensibly recovering from an early morning flight to the city from Colombo. This Nirvana-inspired group makes its rockstar presence felt right away, and with the long, curly locks in place, trademark black Ts and swinging guitars, they are eager to please the Indian ear. Brash and grungy their music might be but this band is — surprisingly — a mellow lot in conversation, curious about Indian music and quite bowled over by the music of popular Indian rock band Parikrama.
And if the quartet is excited about their maiden performance in India at Hard Rock Cafe, they are equally sceptical. “Do you think Thursday is a good day to have a concert in this city? Will people come out to hear us play on a weekday?” they worriedly inquire. The following week they are scheduled to travel to Bangalore for a gig, and are hoping to land a few more concerts in the country. Their music — a mix of punk, funk, 70s retro-blues and psychedelic sounds — may not be new to the Indian music scene but the difference, they insist, lies in where they come from.
It was in the quiet hills of Kandy, their native city, where the boys met at school and decided to start a band. Mirshad took on guitar and vocals, while Asela, the bass. Brothers Dhanushka and Shanka began with the guitar and drums. “We were like outcasts in school because — in those days — most of our classmates were listening to “Barbie doll” and “Vengaboys,” smirks Mirshad. Paranoid Earthling found themselves taking cues from several Western musicians: Marilyn Manson, Rammstein, Alice In Chains, NIN, Smashing Pumpkins, Pearl Jam, The Mars Volta, Jimi Hendrix,
The Doors, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd .... “The list is endless,” says Dhanushka. Like most pubescent bands, the group started performing by playing covers before graduated to composing their own music. Ten years on, their original debut album is on its way, slated for recording early next year.
The band finds it encouraging that their audience is growing, if gradually. But there is a sense of hostility in the air, they say, especially amongst those who disapprove of such Western influences. “The years 2003-06 were great for rock music in Sri Lanka. The rock movement pioneered by an independent organisation, Rock Company, gave many upcoming musicians a platform. Since then, things have slowed down. Now most of the new-age music such as grunge rock, punk and techno and electro is still underground. There’s almost no trace of it on radio or television either,” explains Asela, a self-confessed web geek who maintains the group’s database of songs on MySpace and YouTube. Ironically, despite Western music gaining ground in Sri Lanka, live concerts are dwindling in number. One of the primary reasons was a bill passed by the Sri Lankan government in 2006 to ban any endorsement and advertisement of alcohol and tobacco-related brands. Major sponsors, such as Carlsberg, could not support gigs any longer.
A decade into the music business, Paranoid Earthling feels closest to compositions that speak of the politics of the war, society, and censorship in Lanka. “In the current scenario, youngsters are able to relate to our rebellious songs,” says Asela. “There are many bands like us in Sri Lanka who also feel strongly about democracy, violence, conflict, religion and social hierarchies. Through our music, we call for social change and transformation,” he explains. There is a good chance their songs can be considered repetitive, or even controversial. “We can’t escape it,” reasons the band’s manager, Ruwanthi Jayasundara. “We grew up amidst everyday bombings and hearing about people around us being killed everyday,” she says. Not surprisingly, their grunge looks gets them regular stares on the streets. They’re “troublemakers” as far as the cops are concerned and “viewed with suspicion”.
Music may be their first love but members of Paranoid Earthling are wise to keep stable jobs. While Dhanushka is a banker, Mirshad is a graphic designer. Asela sticks to what he does second best, freelancing as a web designer. Shanka — the other members of the band wave their hands enthusiastically to declare — is a brilliant artist. Financial stability has enabled them to produce their own work. Additionally, the power of the Internet has offered them a freedom in the music world they haven’t experienced before.
If Paranoid Earthling is experimental in what they play, they are conservative when it comes to the dynamics of the group. “Our line up has remained the same right from the start. It’s now impossible to work without each other or with outsiders,” says Mirshad. Some brotherhood, this!
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