This team of young musicians that constantly meets and jams at Flat No. 303 in an apartment in Banjara Hills, named their team Band 303. The band — that’s performing at two events this Sunday for World Music Day — has interesting musical instruments, such as didgeridoo (Australian aboriginal instrument), cajon (percussion with origin in Peru), darbuka (used in Arabic music) and djembe (percussion from West Africa), ukulele (with the origin in Hawaii) and a harmonica, beside the normal acoustic guitar.
Adheer Sahgal and Chaitanya Kappagantula (nickname Pintu Parker) have been meeting on the football ground near Osmania University for four years now. The band guitarist and lead vocalist Ashish Mario (nickname Ashu), has been performing and jamming with Adheer and harmonica performer Arneet Bhalla.
Says Ashish, “We perform songs that touch the soul. It’s a genre which can be described as experimental pop. It’s soothing groovy music to relax the mind. World Music Day is an important platform for us to take our musical journey ahead.”
Chaitanya is a practising architect and feels that music and architecture have many artistic values in common. “I started learning mridangam from the age of seven, and continued it till I turned thirteen. Then there was a very big gap before I realised that I could get percussive sounds from anything including benches, spoons and utensils. When I met for a jamming session, I was all over the cajon, djembe and darbuka.”
Adheer has strong roots in Hyderabad with his forefathers having served in various capacities under the Nizams. His interest in music stems from his father and grandmother Shakuntala Sehgal. “I had been singing karaoke for late K.J. Anand but the rhythms of didgeridoo took over the musical moments in my life. My mother’s grandfather Veernath Rai is the architect for Malakpet Race Course and Gandhi Bhavan. Hyderabad, has always given me my moments of joy throughout my childhood. I feel it’s never late to learn anything new,” he says.
Arneet Bhalla is studying Business Administration and works for an MNC. “I have been witnessing the jamming sessions of my friends at Hampi. I was so impressed with the music that I started helping with small percussion instruments. When we went to the music store to buy a Harmonica for Ashish, I rushed in to buy the whole set and am all over the Harmonica. Don’t be worried about the music. Play it and have fun,” advises the only female member of the band, Arneet Bhalla, as she bids adieu.
