Crooning for a cause

When Nine won the Join The Fight Battle of Bands competition last month the band members stood up to two convictions that well met head-on the conventions.

Youngsters come together to spread the message of awareness through rock band competition. Winning team gears up to drive home the message on Aids

When Nine won the Join The Fight Battle of Bands competition last month the band members stood up to two convictions that well met head-on the conventions. These youngsters stood up to widen the consciousness on AIDS through music and were the only Hindi rock band among the eight participants. The World Aids Day would have Nine performing with Agnee that has been rescheduled due to the terror attacks.

Organised by Wake Up Pune Campaign and Freak Bay, the contest had city bands echo the message of awareness. Speaking on the concept Hans Billimoria, coordinator of the campaign adds, 8220;We want to reach a larger audience especially the urban youth to spread awareness about HIV and also to let them know that it is a larger issue prevalent everywhere and not just partial to certain sections of the society. The campaign is a union of different organisations to reach out through various mediums.8221; It also holds presentations, conversations on AIDS, launch of CDs with songs on HIV and so on.

Another youngster Yuvraaj Oberoi, through the site Freak e-magazine has a segment on HIV awareness and has been looking through the competition throughout. 8220;We are also launching a CD that has the number HIV positive recorded by the Scottish folk band Herman Death Willy Tail,8221; adds Oberoi.

For Nine8217;s five youth, all IT professionals, it has been healing through music. 8220;We specially translated a Bengali song by the band Fossils titled Bishakto Mamush that deeply reflects the concern. This is a good platform that has been able to evoke an initiative by the young people in the city,8221; says Yayati Zende, their lead Guitarist.

The finals were held at Gaia, one of the HIV positive establishments- restaurants that have been given an HIV positive certification. 8220;We had three original tracks Musafir, Pehchaan and Aise Kyu in addition to popular songs. The songs depict the human psychological aspects, show a balled of hope and search for the inner identity. Moreover Hindi is our own language, besides music people could relate to the lyrics and understand them instantaneously,8221; adds Yudhaditya Chaterjee, Nine8217;s vocalist. The group is now preparing on more tracks for the Aids Day Celebration with Agnee.