In July 2011, I stood in a serpentine queue outside Hard Rock Café on Bengaluru’s M.G. Road. Inside, there was barely any space to move, as the crowd pushed and shoved through the room to find an inch to stand. But as lofty keys built anticipation and Carnatic vocal melodies made way for the first guitar riffs to cut through the air, everyone began craning their neck towards the elevated stage with mesmerized focus. We had all jostled to watch Agam unleash their take on traditional South Indian songs, a set infused with hints of Sufi and a tribute to master composer A.R. Rahman, an early supporter of the band. It was the first time I got to experience the full force of the band that has been steadily building their legacy since 2003 — taking the familiarity of Carnatic compositions and Malayalam folk songs and preserving their spiritual essence while also slamming on percussive power, towering prog guitars, sublime vocals and even violins.
At the time, Carnatic progressive rock — a fusion that Agam continue to champion even today — did not really exist. Even the band was still trying to find their footing and do justice to the tag. Sure, the likes of Motherjane’s Baiju Dharmajan were leading the way, but Agam leaned into it completely — interpreting ragas and compositions by poet-saint Thyagaraja, while also nodding to prog greats like Dream Theater, and peppering it with a bit of South Indian folk.
“I think our behavior as a band was also shaped by how the scene shaped us,” vocalist Harish Sivaramakrishnan says when we speak over a video call. “Like, if the scene remained as awkwardly disjointed as what it used to be, then it would have been a very different story. But I think the whole purpose of playing music got solidified because we got a great audience.”
From then to now, if there’s anything that’s constant, it’s that Agam have drawn audiences from across demographics, from ages 8 to 80. From the open-minded Carnatic music followers who count thalams on their fingers to prog rock and metal fans who want to headbang and behold the intricate and heavy rhythmic shifts — you’ll see them all at Agam’s shows.
Formed in Bengaluru between 2003 and 2007, just as they were transitioning from college to work life, vocalist (and back then, violinist) Harish Sivaramakrishnan and drummer Ganesh Ram Nagarajan had just begun jobs in the city’s software industry (naturally). Keyboardist Swamy Seetharaman had a few more years of work experience (“He was the only one that had money,” Sivaramakrishnan jokes) and guitarist T. Praveen Kumar had just landed a tech internship. Seetharaman was not just a band manager and catalyst for Agam (Sivaramakrishnan likens him to the manager and confidante character of Mangalam in the 2003 coming-of-age Tamil film Boys, essayed by the late great Tamil comedian Vivek), but also remains a key songwriter in the band to this day.
Seetharaman recalls lucidly how, in May 2005 in Bengaluru, they met at a South Indian restaurant in Indiranagar’s 12th Main. “I still remember that I crossed the signal, I met Harish and we went to a studio,” he says. A digital audio workstation called Paris was at their disposal and Agam first began recording music through “analog recording” and jamming. “I would say I’m a firm believer in energies and how you sort of resonate with people. When I met Harish and Ganesh, it was just that energy that was carrying forward,” he adds.
With a lineup that included bassist Vignesh Lakshminarayanan and percussionist Sivakumar Nagarajan at the time, they recorded songs like “Lakshiya Paadhai” and “Mystical Aabheri.” Seetharaman says that it was around then that they decided to go “all in.” It led to them winning the 2007 televised music competition Ooh La La La, where they were discovered by A.R. Rahman. In a retrospective to mark the release of Arrival of the Ethereal, Rahman said in a video message, “Very few bands have a belief in an identity, and that too from India. I find Agam one of those—a very strong identity […] They make their sound an experience.”
For Sivaramakrishnan, being part of Ooh La La La — the project that launched Agam into regional acclaim in South India, and even caught some national attention thanks to Rahman — was almost like getting the whole nine yards treatment that independent bands rarely got. “There would be a backline that you could rig your gear to, proper amps and a decent P.A. That was a big premium at that point in time,” the vocalist says. And, they got to play their own songs, a limited opportunity at a time when independent music festivals and platforms were far and few. “An added value was that potentially, A.R. Rahman would come and listen to you,” he points out. For Seetharaman, it was a watershed moment to believe he could make music, especially bolstered by the likes of Rahman, who appreciated his lyrics. He says emotionally, “[It was about] making people believe in themselves and giving that little nudge, saying, ‘Hey, I see something in you.’”
Agam went on to cinch bigger wins and gain wider exposure. And, although their day jobs took much of their focus for a few years, they also began chipping away at what would become their seminal debut album The Inner Self Awakens, which came out in 2012.
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There’s no band quite like Agam. Yet, their story is stitched together with moments that reflect Indian independent music history’s enduring willingness to adapt. Guitarist T. Praveen Kumar, for example, was originally a keyboardist during the Ooh La La La phase. But during a 2008 gig in Chennai, he picked up the guitar, inspired by bassist, college senior and music club regular Aditya Kasyap. Before Kasyap was playing in the band, bassist Vignesh Lakshminarayanan had a guitar that he lent to Kumar just before this Chennai gig, and their then-drummer Nagarajan asked him to “fill the sound” on stage.
“I think I was learning the guitar even as the band was playing live,” Kumar admits, looking back. “If you go back and look at some of the early videos, [there are] a lot of bum notes on the Carnatic scale of playing. I think the entire band was patient. But I should say I picked up the guitar with the band and continue to [grow] as much as possible throughout the journey.” From prog riffs to Carnatic guitar fretwork, Kumar and Kasyap on bass now comprise the riff machine that you can hear on songs like “Over The Horizon,” “The Silence That Remains,” “The Celestial Nymph” and more, a sound they built together with then-guitarist Jagadish Natarajan.
Over a video call, all six members look back at moments that are both cherished and chaotic — like the time the band played a four-hour set at Kasyap’s wedding reception or when percussionist Nagarajan got all the members to help him lug 13 instruments up several stairways to a recording studio. The sense of camaraderie, banter, and leg-pulling that punctuates their stories is indicative of the deeply cultivated bond that drives them. “Thanks for bringing the band together at 10 am in the morning on a working day, a rare feat that very few people have achieved,” Sivaramakrishnan says with a smile at the start of the call. He and Seetharaman now work together at finance company Cred, where Kumar is also a consultant. Kasyap, who works for a multinational, is on call from Lakmé Fashion Week in New Delhi.
Agam went from playing shows at mainstay venues like Kyra in Bengaluru (Sivaramakrishnan calls the venue’s founder Dipali Sikand a “defining person” in the band’s journey) to releasing The Inner Self Awakens in 2012. That same year, they played festivals like NH7 Weekender in Pune and put out “Malhar Jam” as part of Coke Studio. Peers like the Raghu Dixit Project and Swarathma in Bengaluru were also pushing forward the fusion movement, as were the likes of Thaikkudam Bridge, Paradigm Shift, and Advaita, among others.
Those years helped them build a fanbase that, Agam says, artists would not be able to earn in today’s ecosystem. “There are a lot of views, there’s a lot of vibe and buzz. But building a fanbase, having people that genuinely believe in your music and will come again and again, no matter what, I think that’s what we built with the first album,” he says. By 2014, the band’s founding member and drummer Ganesh Ram Nagarajan moved to the U.S. for work, and Agam enlisted new blood with Yadhunandan Nagaraj.
A part of Bengaluru’s metal scene, he began filling in at a few gigs and formally joined the band in 2014, even though he had moved to Mumbai to pursue drumming in professional, commercial acts. “I got a call from Harish when I was traveling to a festival. I asked, ‘How do we rehearse?’ He’s like, ‘We’ll figure it out. Just say yes and we’ll work it out.’” In time, Nagaraj toned down a bit of his metal fervor for Agam’s prog rock and fusion blend. But when the time came to write on A Dream to Remember and Arrival of The Ethereal, those instincts kicked back in, adding a weight and intensity which can be heard on new songs like “Between Doubt and Destiny.” One of Agam’s heaviest songs yet, Seetharaman says it was originally slated to be part of a Tamil movie soundtrack, but now rounds out the first part of their album project. It also features vocalist Munz from folk-metallers The Down Troddence. His growls match Sivaramakrishnan’s loudest, most intense vocal harmonies ever heard. Kumar says, “If you pay close attention, I think he [Sivaramakrishnan] was almost growling in Carnatic without losing the melody of it.”
Even three albums in, Agam is sharper than ever and still pushing their boundaries. Arrival of the Ethereal has been about eight years in the making. Kumar credits part of that to their gear as well. “D’Addario guitar strings have been the go-to for Agam in getting those crisp metal riffs to cut through on top of heavy Carnatic vocals,” he points out. Kasyap adds, “The wide range of strings and picks that D’Addario has in its portfolio helps us cover a wide sonic spectrum in our compositions and makes our instrumentalization cut through the way we intend it to.”
Among the fresh material, “Walk of the Bride” emerges as the most compelling offering. The band transforms a conventional Telugu/Tamil wedding song “Sita Kalyana Vaibhogame,” layering it with energetic percussion patterns reminiscent of bright prog while also transporting listeners to a joyous marriage ritual. “You feel like you’re in a wedding. It has more Indian elements like thavil, chenda… you hear those traditional sounds and all the grooves and progressive rock,” percussionist Nagarajan says.
It’s also quickly become a popular pick from the album, finding its way into wedding aftermovies and other celebratory occasions. Kasyap marvels at how this song found an audience despite being a fairly complex track, “The band’s on a 4 [time signature], Harish is singing on a 5 [time signature]. It keeps the song constantly on the edge, and crowd involvement is amazing to find the ‘on’ count.”
The ambitious “The Silence That Remains” takes inspiration from the Carnatic work “Mokshamu Galada,” a composition that questions whether liberation can truly be attained without self-realization. Another highlight came through “Flight To The Summer Sky,” presented as an upcoming partnership with Grammy-winning artist Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt. This piece — an inventive reworking of Saint Thyagaraja’s composition honoring the goddess Saraswati — threads together bold brass flourishes, keyboard passages, and elements of Carnatic jazz fusion.
At auditoriums and big stages that Agam now command, it’s common to see about 2,000 people singing along to “Walk of the Bride” or even leading “Rangapura Vihara,” their 2018 single part of A Dream to Remember. Sivaramakrishnan says about “Walk of the Bride,” which came out in July this year: “We went to Dubai… very diverse audience. It’s crazy. People from all walks of life, the collective voice is singing that song together. People have learned the lyrics.”
Ambitions are still riding high in Agam, and you can hear more of that on their upcoming title track “Arrival of The Ethereal,” which features an 80-piece orchestra comprising the Czech National Symphony Orchestra. After wrapping up a U.S. tour in August, they’re heading to the U.K. in November, and returning to perform at Mahindra Kabira Festival in Varanasi in December. They’ve even submitted Arrival of the Ethereal for Grammy considerations in the Best Global Music Album and Best Global Music Performance categories.
Sivaramakrishnan sums up their global vision and long-standing ambition: “In all humility, I think we believe that our music deserves to be listened to […] We want more people to listen to the sonic spectrum that we are trying to create, which we believe we have worked very hard for.” All feedback, brickbats and bouquets alike are welcome, the vocalist notes. True to their long-honed perspective as an independent band, Agam are “extremely happy and proud” to have stuck together and created music. “We’ll continue to work hard till our ears work and till the point we have some craft left in us. All we are trying right now is to get the world to at least give us a listen,” he says.
Credits:
Writer: Anurag Tagat
Art Director and Motion Cover Design: Rahil Koshti
Executive Editor: Shamani Joshi
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