Of late, the music scene in Bengaluru has gotten a new twist with this all-girl seven-piece band. Meet Remo's Muzic Spark.
They play anything, right from Kannada, Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam film songs, to devotional and folk songs and even Britney Spears!
All full-time musicians, they're on a roll, performing day after day and making material for their next album, which they hope to release by February 14, on the band's first year anniversary. “Remo stands for Rekha Mohan. That's me," smiles Rekha, who calls her band mates her 'sparks'.
Having come from a musical background, Rekha has been singing since the age of three. “I sang for the movie 'Chinnari Mutha' when I was 11. I have been singing on and off in films but only this year I released an entire album of my own, titled 'Gelathi Yennale'," she says. This woman who loves writing lyrics, does everything differently.
“Generally women's songs in movies are all depressing. Our band likes to break that norm. We recently performed a song called "Bithaku Ella Drama, Bekagilla Prema". She’s not different only through her music; she even rides a motor bike, does mimicry and sings mostly male songs. “I love performing Sonu Nigam songs,” she says.
The band consists of Archana Ravi, Kushala, Shilpa Madhusudan and Bhuvaneshwari on keyboard and vocals, and Priya (rhythm), and Prarthana (singer).
The best part is they all can easily interchange their instruments and play. “I'm learning rhythms from Priya. I play congo for some songs. It's nice to be able to exchange knowledge about each other's instruments," says Shilpa, a vocalist who has sung innumerable movie and TV serial songs and ad jingles.
Despite six out of seven being married, these 'sparks' find time to practice often.
“Our parents have been so helpful, we leave our children with them when we have to perform," says Shilpa. They even take audience requests and perform songs impromptu, although they've never practiced it before. “We just need to keep our audiences happy," says Rekha.
But she adds that they are very careful about the venues they play at. “Since we’re all women, we need a relatively disciplined crowd. But so far so good. The response has been amazing! Even college students, who are generally unruly, loved listening to us and sang along. It’s the best feeling to be on stage,” smiles Rekha.
