Monday, September 26, 2011

A-V-I-A-L




Its an odd name for a band and is certainly not the only odd thing about them as a fan would tell you.Despite their long list of musical inadequacies they are quite a phenomenon among young malayalies as was obvious by the overwhelming turnout for one of their recent concerts in Kochi.For the longest time good music in the state was confined to the genius of Dr.K.J.Yesudas  and a few others but it didn’t really produce music that connected with a broader audience. Mallu music had reached an impasse in terms of creative work when avial arrived on the scene around a decade ago. 


Non-existent lyrical brilliance is what hits you first when you listen to their songs but over time you learn to see past that and sometimes(like in my case) even enjoy it.But they are by no means a prolific band,infact it took them 4years after they announced their self titled album for it to finally see the light of day.But they made it well worth the wait with what I thought was a brilliant first album. Avial has 4 permanent members as of now.Rex Vijayan on the guitar gives the songs a tone that makes them distinctly avial .He used to be with motherjane before shifting his loyalties.Tony John is the band’s vocalist.Naresh kamath,the bass guitarist is the only non-malayali in the band and Mithun Puthanveetil on the drums is the son of a popular politician in kerala.


A very politically aware band, their songs discuss important social issues ranging from deforestation(aadu pambe) and aanakallan is a satirical take on the issue of fraud swami’s  and one of their songs features  brief recordings of Achuthanandan’s and Karunakaran’s(both ex chief minister’s of the state) campaigns. They have some of the best instrumental play I’ve heard in any band and even zar’roc who’s by far the biggest music geek I’ve met agrees with me on that front which is pretty weird because we have so very different tastes when it comes to music that everytime he hands me the earphones to listen to some song that he thinks is good I brace myself for an acoustic barrage. Plus another good thing about them is that they try to sound original  and no two songs are alike.


All of their music combines indie rock and folk to form what the band members like to call ‘alternative malayali rock’.Everybody has songs that they’d skip from their playlist when it comes up but I doubt if I’ll ever skip one of theirs.Motherjane is touted by many as the best mallu band yet and is said to be the shining example of the convergence of native music and the west but I feel that avial makes a stronger claim for the spot of the best mallu band especially since their songs are actually in Malayalam as opposed to Motherjane’s (heavily accented)English ones.They dared to defy convention and succeeded in a field plagued by pretty egregious work and if the previews of their new albums are anything to go by Motherjane’s locating new nadir’s with each of their songs while Avial only seems to get better.


Sure,their songs depict the decadent state of a society thats increasingly becoming inseperable from the west but,I think bands like avial keeps us rooted all the same,serves as a silent reminder of who we really are and where we come from.I have very few friends who enjoy their kind of music except maybe frodo(they sort of bring out the guitar fanatics in us). If you’re one of those people who are not exactly amused by  avial then I’d urge you to keep listening to them because they have a tendancy to grow on you and also because no other band can so wondrously turn a ? in to a !.