Nothing by Chance

But the music of their month-old band Kailasa has no such problems. Freestyle Sufi music with a global approach, that8217;s their style. Global because there8217;s a lot of reggae, jazz, blues and soft rock in it.

8216;8216;The USP of our band is really Kher8217;s voice. That8217;s why the name Kailasa,8217;8217; says Paresh candidly. The others too are an eclectic and famous bunch.

Lead guitarist Paresh Kamath was a singer in Mumbai-based rock band Chakraview. His brother and the band8217;s bass guitarist Naresh Kamath is a permanent fixture on Mumbai8217;s jazz circuit and once belonged to a popular rock band Bombay Black that opened for Aerosmith at a concert in Los Angeles in 2001. Before Kailasa happened, Naresh used to remix albums. The band8217;s drummer Kurt Peters is jazz musician/bass guitarist Karl Peters8217;s son. The band also features keyboard player Rinku Rajput and percussionist Jonqui.

Born in June 2004, Kailasa8217;s first concert was the Indo-Pak Sarhadon Ki Jugalbandi in Delhi on June 19.

And since then, they8217;ve been pretty busy. Kailasa already has two albums ready for release. Though their debut album, comprising eight original numbers, might never see the light of day since the recording label they sold the rights to doesn8217;t have funds to launch it.

The second one now awaits a record label to back it. The band also has about 60 original songs they can perform at any show8212;all part of their preparation for a forthcoming world tour scheduled in September, funded by Indian cultural centres abroad. The band is not overtly spiritual, even though its lead singer has a Sufi leaning.

They are clear about what they want to do. 8216;8216;We won8217;t like to sing item numbers. However, singing for an Ariel ad isn8217;t a problem,8217;8217; says Naresh. Kher is also quite clear he will never sing qawwalis. 8216;8216;All those tanas, gararis and mindless screams don8217;t impress me.8217;8217;

Trained musically by several gurus, Kher has never believed in the gharana system or its technicalities. 8216;8216;Music is something that touches hearts,8217;8217; says the man who writes every song that he sings.

Meanwhile, the band is busy 8216;8216;expanding their horizons8217;8217;. They8217;re setting off to perform at college festivals across the country. 8216;8216;We8217;re hard core performers and not just musicians,8217;8217; says Naresh.

Then there are films, too. The band is creating the complete soundtrack for Bhawna Talwar8217;s forthcoming movie Dharm and a song in Mukesh Mallik8217;s By Chance.

And as they work together, Kher laces his sentences with expletives, while his friends have picked up a bit of Urdu. 8216;8216;Kailash is a cool dude now,8217;8217; remarks Naresh.