“You have collaborated with my son. When will you collaborate with me?” Vikku Vinayakram asked Indian Ocean after a concert.
Members of the band Indian Ocean. (Supplied)
To hear members of the band Indian Ocean tell it, the offer came out of the blue. But when a pioneer like Vikku Vinayakram offers to collaborate, a lot of thought will have gone into it.
In an interview with South First, Rahul Ram — one of the earliest members of the band — recounted that the ghatam exponent had just finished playing a concert when he asked them about it backstage.
“You have collaborated with my son. When will you collaborate with me?” he apparently asked them.
The band had recorded a song with V Selvaganesh in its previous studio album Tandanu, which featured several other guest artists with whom the band jammed up some songs.
Thus, when Vinayakram asked them when he would collaborate with them, the band jumped on it.
The result is the song Is Tan Dhan Ki, based on a poem by Kabir, which features in Indian Ocean’s upcoming studio album Tu Hai.
What’s more, Vinayakram — with whom Ram and fellow band-member Amit Kilam had played years ago — has also lent his voice to the piece, singing about his Tamil identity.
Members of Indian Ocean told South First that Tu Hai was to be released right around the time the Covid-19 pandemic started, and that was what delayed it.
“The reason you release an album is so that people hear it, like the songs, and then buy tickets to the concert,” explained Ram.
However, the pandemic led to lockdowns, which meant it made no sense to release the album then.
However, that did not stop the band from playing songs from it. In fact, they explained, they have been playing songs featured in the album for several years now. “Just like Kandisa,” said Ram, referring to one of Indian Ocean’s most-recognised albums.
The first of these songs in the new album is the title track Tu Hai. However, regular listeners of the band may be more familiar with the song Jadu Maya, which Indian Ocean was playing at least a year or two before the pandemic.
And apparently, it helps the band in the recording studio. Ram and vocalist Himanshu Joshi explained: “By the time we go to the studio to record a song, we will have played it several times. It eases the process of recording, and we will have practised it well.”
The album is expected to hit streaming platforms in a couple of months, they told South First.
The new album also features a collaboration with saxophone player George Brookes, said the band.
“He is based in California but plays both Carnatic and Hindustani classical,” explained Ram. And that style is right up Indian Ocean’s alley. After all, its members play Western instruments in the Indian style, often melding in Indian classical notes.
Interestingly, Brookes also featured in the concert — along with violinist Kumaresh, another Indian Ocean collaborator in Tandanu — where Vinayakram asked the band for a collaboration.
Meanwhile, band-members said they would like to collaborate with the likes of Bombay Jayashree and AR Rahman.
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