Campus Bandwidth

Back in 2008,after 4pm on any day at Kirori Mal College,one could hear a couple of students jamming together.

Back in 2008,after 4pm on any day at Kirori Mal College,one could hear a couple of students jamming together. Faint sounds of drum beats,bass guitar and powerful vocals reached the road and most knew it was KMCs indie band Five8 at work. They were the new sound of Delhi University. The other hip act was The Circus,the Sushant School of Art and Architecture band formed in 2007. Now,with members of Five8 and The Circus having graduated,new bands are filling up the vacuum. For the fuchchas of 2011,an array of new bands will rock the campus.

Jester is easily the most popular band in Delhi University,one that counts other campus bands as fans. On Facebook,more than 1,000 people follow their every pronouncement. The line-up changes when old members pass out and new students join in. As a result,the sound,too,has undergone a transformation since the band started in 2008. We started as a funk,pop band but now play a lot of grooves-rock and R&B, says guitarist Pranav Pahwa,a BCom (Honours) student. The other members are vocalist Dhruv Goyal,bassist Akshay Dwivedi and drummer Shantanu

Sudarshan. Apart from working the crowd at DU,the band has performed at Cafe Morrison,Hard Rock Cafe and Turquoise Cottage as well as headlined the 2010 Youth Festival in Delhi. Check out their hit originals such as The Jester Song and Bubbles.

For an evening of blues-rock,tune in to Jokes Apart,formed two years ago by four students of Sri Venkateshwara College. A lot of people turn up for our gigs. Usually,importance is given to theatre and dance in DU but people have started taking bands seriously too, says lead guitarist Nabam Takar,who is studying Economics (Honours). Along with Rohit Bhattacharya on the bass guitars,Ketan Sharma on the vocals and Karanvir Singh on drums,the band has originals titled Vertical Smiles and Volatile,as well as a CV that boasts shows at various colleges in Delhi,BITS Pilani and Blues in Connaught Place. Most band members are in the third year.

At Ramjas College,Blue Belief juggles a range of styles. Ask bassist Siddhartha Bhargava to describe the sound of Blue Belief and,after much thought,he blurts out,We play everything. We dont know our genre. The year-old band also has Bhaanu Mendiratta on the guitars,Harshit Jain on the keyboards,Abhay Sharma on the saxophone and Abhijeet Sood on the drums,all final-year students. We experiment with music and play a lot of jazz and blues, says Bhargava. Ask him which campus band should freshers listen to and,after mentioning their own band,he names Jester. They have the backing of the administration and teachers too, he adds.

Apart from rock,jazz and blues,Shaheed Bhagat Singh College band,Satiate also offers experimental and progressive music. Our college was never on the music map. But once we started winning competitions,we became famous, says guitarist Kshitij Sahney. Formed in 2010,the band also has Shashank Chandak on vocals and Ashwin Nayar on the guitar. Though they have been restricted to college fests,the band is hoping for more outdoor gigs this year. We have been busy with exams and are now waiting for college to re-open so that we can work on the music, says Chandak,an Economics (Honours) student.

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