Parikrama stands for everything that one expects of an Indian Rock Band. They have been around since June 17, 1991 and celebrated their 20th Anniversary last month. They perform only songs in English, though Indian instruments and influences can be seen in many of their songs. They have clearly told music companies who have urged them to go Hindi or go bust, where they can get off and all their songs/videos are available as free downloads on their official website. For one of the most prominent bands on the Indian Rock Music scene they have surprisingly yet to release an album.
Since they started out as teenagers with a shared passion for rock music, Parikrama has clocked over 1000 performances across India and also in the UK, Vietnam, Indonesia, Laos, US and Canada. They have opened for Iron Maiden in India and were invited to perform at the Download Festival in UK, 2007, which Iron Maiden was headlining and various other venues in the UK. They also concluded their recent tour of the US and Canada and performed to a standing ovation at the Kennedy Centre, as part of the Maximum India Celebrations in March 2011.
The core members of the band comprises of Nitin Malik (Vocals), Sonam Sherpa (Guitars), Saurabh Chaudhary (Guitars), Chintan Kalra (Bass Guitar), Subir Malik (Keyboards) and Srijan Mahajan (Drumz) but includes Imran Khan (Violin) and Shambhu Nath (Tabla / Percussions)who are regular accompanists. All of them work or are in business full time, Subir functions as the band’s manager and they frankly admit that the band alone cannot sustain them on a fulltime basis. But Parikrama is their priority at all times.
What’s admirable about them is that they have stuck to their ideals and what they believe in as a band. Despite the near zero potential for a rock band performing in English in India they have sustained and have been around 20 rocking years. So hats off to one of India’s most iconic rock bands and just maybe their story will continue to be written for another 20 years to come. Rock on Parikrama, rock on!
~ Stanley Paul