Hammer down your television set, tear off the newspapers, bang into a mirror glass, let your hands bleed in the process, rip apart the cable wires, break open the clocks of all shapes and sizes and yes, lift up to destroy everything brittle and wooden around you. Exchange some blows and set the ruins ablaze too. Finally, bandage your bruises, after you’re done with the vandalizing act. Well, if you’re still not happy, then think of some other ways to eject your anger, anguish and depressive outbursts. Call this an extremist attitude? Then weigh your thoughts carefully before the rockheads confront you to counter your point of view. “Oh, this is rocking at its craziest level. All this fretting and frenzy will add up to discharging the right kind of rock feel and flavour into one’s guitar — riffs and vein-swelling vocal chords. This defines the magical power of rock — an alchemy which transmutes raw human emotions into headbanging, hip-swinging and foottapping music,” opines a frenetic rock-enthusiast at the recent album launch of Kolkata’s rock-icon and National Award winning singer, Rupam Islam.
Aptly titled Nishkromon, the Bengali compilation — consisting of eight mind-blowing and body-swaying tracks — swears to revive the rock elements at its best and at the highest decibel. “This is an honest attempt from the core of my heart. The theme is very philosophical in its essence. No doubt Nishkromon is a difficult word, but at the same time, it is exceedingly easy to correlate with. It means departure, citing that very particular moment in life, when all of us desperately want to run away from either loneliness, failure, dejection, rejection, death, marital-rifts, a loveless relationship or a meaningless life — only to start afresh. This escapism continues until the mind turns into an empty slate where you scribble something new and novel over it. You need to put yourself in the mood to take the next challenging plunge. It is whimsical and at times, reaches its saturation limits to gasp for a fresh lease of oxygen,” explains Islam.
When the mind is bogged under immense pressure and an unbearable stress, it gropes for an outlet like a caged-bird to flap its wings and fly away. Then nothing seems to be working fine and in your favourable direction. Hence, Nishkromon or dispelling becomes necessary. The issues that are currently gnawing will be forgotten soon, creating a vacuum in its place and a fresh crop of thoughts will replace it. Incidentally, history has witnessed many thinkers, clairvoyants, saints and seers to experience this Nishkromon to attain enlightenment. Lord Buddha for instance, as a seeker of truth was enlightened under the sacred Bodhi Tree. He became a visionary in the quest of truth. “They never remained static in their positions. Rather, they have always swum against the conventional tide and taken a revolutionary stand in due course of time. They all denied and denounced the practiced social status quo and hollow traditions. This album too narrates a journey of one’s self-discovery or a sojourn of soul-searching,” he notes. Adding further, “It’s a fruit of joint, unanimous efforts. Through our concerted contributions, we have tried to look for that eye-opening ray of light that can only be comprehended by the sixth sense. Like nature washes away all the scrapes of dirt and pollutants from its flora and fauna, similarly the mind and body purge out the unwanted filth from its pockets. This process of moral cleansing has a cathartic impact on our senses. This encompasses a cyclical route and the circle, which is a symbol of perfection, is completed. I feel creativity and devastation are two different facets of the same coin. One trails another, striking a fine balance. This is how, the equilibrium is maintained.”
The album is unique in the sense that it shares its innermost thoughts to connect with the audience. It has a personal touch indeed. It defies all stereotypes and disintegrates the monotony. He also alludes to the artistic conscience of John Lennon — world-famous English pop musician, singer-songwriter and a founding member of The Beatles band — and Lalan Fakir — a 19th century secular mystical poet, a baul song composer and a folk philosopher from Bangladesh. There is a mode of self-criticism, electrifying excitement and a non-stop jamming session with percussive beats and guitar licks on the album.
Interestingly, for the first time, many members from other bands have entered the fray to pitch in with their innovative acts and make this album a sure-shot success. From drummers to bassists to vocalists, bandsters from Five Little Indians, Lakkhichara, Fossils, Cactus and Insomnia have converged to coordinate with Islam, who also doubles up as the frontman of his popular music-band, Fossils. “I hope, our painstaking work will recreate history in the music-circuit.”
Not yet ready to go solo, Islam has penned all the numbers, scoring notes for each single piece and the music has been produced by the talented guitar-whiz, Allan Ao.
Gaboo alias Gaurav Chatterjee, the drummer of Lakkhichara asserts, “There is a strong sense of camaraderie amongst all of us. And that is reflected in this album. The closer the bonding, the sweeter is its appeal. There is purity in its charm and execution as well. The music is absolutely organic in its essence. And most importantly, the recording has been a live experience. We have rehearsed and recorded the song at the same given space. So automatically, we were in our comfort zone and produced spontaneous music.”
Chandra Biswas from Fossils concurs, “Yeah, there is a strain of live vibes in the album’s sound quality. It has an in-your-face, refreshing charm of its own, and does some straight, hard talking from its heart, without much beating around the bush. Unlike the contemporary system of dubbing inside a cramped recording space of a claustrophobic 10/10 ft studio room nowadays, we’ve adopted the yesteryear methods of going live. So the past trend is coming back to haunt the Gen-Y music junkies.” True, we can’t agree more.