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`Jaane do', sings `Agosh'
Gopal, Anandh, and Shaleen who form `Agosh'.
IT IS 1994, an Irani joint, two Roorkee mechanical engineers and a Chennai-based mathematics graduate are dreaming dreams; they sip ``chai'' but are drunk on music. After some firm handshakes, a band is born. Mechanics and Mathematics go out the window.
The trio broke what Shaleen Sharma, who passed out of Roorkee University along with R.Anandh, calls ``typical-middle class mentality'' to form a music studio called "Aqua Regia" (chemically speaking, it is three parts hydrochloric acid, one part nitric acid and dissolves gold).
Curly-haired Shaleen -- he was in Bangalore recently -- explains that the name came from their belief that "we have dissolved gold inside us.''
Gopal Rao sang while Anandh played the guitar. Shaleen drummed. This way they did jingles for advertisement films -- Pepsi, Fanta, Ponds, the Nestle Munch advertisement, etc. (Along the way, they also did the music for Bangalore's very own Radio City).
Then films happened. Tamil, Malayalam, Hindi. They scored music for the Malayalam film, ``Nirnayam'', then, ``Mazha Peyyum Mumbe''. Their first Tamil film was K.T.Kunjumon's "Shakti''. Then it was the Hindi film, ``Zor'' starring Sunny Deol and Sushmita Sen. It didn't make waves, but the song ``Main kudi anjai hoon'' did.
Many, many films later, the trio decided to seriously pursue their own music under the name ``Agosh''. The title is not just their names put together; it also means ``embrace.'' Embrace of life. Like it is. Music that is "for the people, by the people.'' Songs that are ``absolutely colloquial.''
``Ad films are still our bread and butter. And we continue to make music for films. But `Agosh' is our totally `non-filmi' and non-commercial' venture,'' Shaleen said.
The trio have tried this genre before. In 1999, they did the song ``O Yaara Re'' for the compilation, ``Come on India'', that also had Shankar Mahadevan and Hariharan and was brought out for the cricket world cup.
At present, major music channels are playing the title track of their album, ``Paisa''. "The eight songs are about day-to-day issues. If the Beatles sang `Let it be' to the world, we sing `Jaane do' to all Indians,'' Shaleen says.
Given their long association with films, the songs understandably enough have filmi overtones. But the trio insists that it is not just another ``pop'' album. "It is about contemporary, popular Indian music.'' All three have classical background. Shaleen is a trained tabla player and a Hindustani vocalist, Anandh played the veena for 12 years, and Gopal was brought up on Carnatic vocal. "It is essential to be grounded in music. Talent is not enough,'' Shaleen stresses.
These guys grew up on Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Jethro Tull. They cannot relate to the present Western crop. As for the Indian scene, they say the time is now. It is theirs and it is totally ``made in India.'' ``Paisa'' is on Zee Records and is available at all music stores.
By Divya Sreedharan
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Life
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Thiruvananthapuram
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