Every build you break

In aid of Hippocampus

11th Hour Band

Since late 2008 the Pan IIT Band did quite a few shows and it was time to decide a name for the band. The Pan IIT Band somehow didn't sound so 'cool'!! Again Vijaya, our Band Master (well, like we don't call Rashtrapatni even if the president is a woman, we can call Vijaya Band Master) took the initiative in deciding a name. She came up names that had the word '11th Hour' because even after all the planning we landed up rehearsing only at the 11th hour, even if that meant meeting on a week day at Dilip's place at 8pm and going on till midnight!! Finally after some deliberations we stuck to 11th Hour Band, written as "iith Hour Band"!!

Bonjour India Festivals

I just gate crashed into one of the ongoing two month long Bonjour India cultural festival going on in various cities in India during December & January. I'd come to Royal Orchid Hotel on old Airport Road, Bangalore, today and happened to attend the performance by Sharik Hassan Paris Trio at the hotel. Sharik is a Bangalore boy who has collaborated with musicians from Paris and is part of Bonjour India Festival. It was quite good. Before the show had started I noticed a piano, a double base, a set of acoustic drums and a pair of tabla on stage. That's when I stuck to the place, inquired about what's going on. The troupe did sort of jazz type of music. The most refreshing thing was the total acoustic setup. And my kid was amazed to see how my violin has grown up so big!!

Interested people may check out the following events in Jan at various places in Bangalore. All the events are free and you may have to just collect the free passes from Alliance de France.

1. Lyric Opera Concert: 8th Jan, Alliance de France Auditorium, 7:30pm
2. Jazz by China Moses: 12th Jan, Hotel Royal Orchid, Airport Road
3. Awek's Blues: 17th Jan, B Flat Bar, Indiranagar, 8:30pm
4. Contemporary & Fusion Music by Ziskakan: B Flat Bar, Indiranagar, 8pm

link to my songs !!

http://www.in.com/active18/social/popplayer.php?userid=22000062324&albumid=3&songid=1261&filename=02%2520ek%2520haseen%2520shaam%2520ko.mp3

2009 photos

Few snaps of Pan IIT Band's performances in 2009

The Pan IIT Band

Vijaya's words sum it up all:

Was watching a new reality show for choosing the best band from across India (no, I'm not suggesting we try our hand here!) - just to share an interesting fact - one of the bands was very proud of the fact that their band had people ranging in age from 20 to 45, and I felt we are one up on them - our ages range from 10 to 50!

Did you all know that our Pan-IIT band has given 3 performances within the past year (2009), and we've repeated just 4 songs out of 60 odd songs that we've done till now? Not bad, isnt it?

That's about the Pan IIT Band - it's made mainly of alumni from the various IITs and their kids. The youngest member is Nishant, Dilip & Shanti's son - he barely goes to the high school!! And then there's Vijaya - an alumnus of IITB from 1982 batch - the coordinator and the main anchor of the Pan IIT Band. In between there are people from all decades. Irrespective of the differences in age and profession, we all share a tremendous passion for music. It doesn't matter how well we perform (well, we do it better than many other local bands), we just LOVE to be together on stage from time to time!!

Special credit goes to Vijaya in getting together a number of music freaks of all ages and formally creating this Band. The first performance of this Pan IIT Band was sometime in late 2008 in a Pan IIT meet. The next one was in early 2009 at the 50th year celebration of IITB and the most recent one was for the IITM alumni meet in October 2009. That makes the three performances within a year.

Dilip & Shanti (both IITM alumni of the eighties) need special mention for hosting almost all the practice sessions. Without them all these shows won't have been possible.