Parikrama have been around in the music scene for over 28 years and have performed all over the world. The rock band which also uses elements of Indian music in its soundscape was the first Asian band to perform at the Download Festival in 2007, and open for Iron Maiden in Bengaluru, the following year.

Since 1991 has been playing for various causes, while pursuing their own respective professions all, without making any noise.

Although formed as a college band, the band shifts at times into their favorite to play classic rock numbers by Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC and Rolling Stones.

The band recently released a music video of one of their most famous songs, Tears of the Wizard. The song’s video, which was inspired by the character of Gandalf the wizard from the Lord of the Rings, is directed by Sujit Jha and captures the scenic beauty of the Mechuka valley in Arunachal Pradesh. The video has been produced by Sanjiv Monga's GooseOnDaLoose Films for the Tourism Department, Govt. Of Arunachal Pradesh. Sanjiv is also the co-director of photography, for the video, along with Raja Sengupta. 

The Tears of the Wizard video is the first big release by Parikrama after But It Rained (1996) which was dedicated to the kidnappings in the Kashmir valley. The song was featured in the ‘25 greatest Indian Rock Songs of the last 25 years’ in 2014 by Rolling Stone India. The other video is Colourful Wonderland (2014).

Verus Ferreira chats up with one of the band’s founding members of the band Subir Malik to know more about the band’s journey and their new music video.

You are making a comeback after such a long time. How does it feel to return back to the music world?

We were always around doing 100 plus shows in a year. The only new thing is that it is our first official video release after 20 years. We have been playing live all around the world from 20 years. Be it USA, Canada, Africa Tour, Indonesia, Camodia and more. We were playing actively just not releasing music videos; this is after two decades that we are releasing a video

How do you feel the music industry has changed now compared to back then? What are some of the challenges you face and how do overcome them?

A lot has changed. Today with technology one can sit at home and listen to an entire album. One is not dependent on record labels or anyone else’s mercy to make music reach out to people. We are called Independent musicians because we are independent of all the change. We can do our own music. Technology wise we can sit at home and record the entire album. We can record drums at the studio, do all other parts sitting at home. We couldn’t even think of this 20 years ago. Technology has increased fan to band interaction and ratio. Today you can write to any band and get a reply on a real time basis. Technology has made the access for fans to their bands and vis a vis 20 years ago. Television was the only sort of visual content then, but today you can get it on so many other digital platforms. We are releasing the music video on VH1 and also on YouTube.

Is Rock still as popular as it was back in the day?

Rock and Roll is not as popular with the younger generation as it was 20 years ago. We are trying to achieve that by shifting gears and come up with songs. Before we never came up with videos and used to play live. That is one thing we are trying to do. Give the younger kids a taste of rock and roll. Not that all of them don’t listen to rock. The present generation is more towards Techno or that kind of music rather than the sound of Guitar or Rock and Roll.

What is the inspiration behind the song and music video ‘Tears of the Wizard’?

We have written songs on the movie ‘Lord of the Rings’. It is a trilogy. The first book and the first movie, we had written a song on it called Am I Dreaming?, but we haven’t released an official video of it. Tears of the Wizard is inspired by the second book of ‘Lord of the Rings’ and dedicated to our favorite character ‘Gandalf The Great’. We are releasing it on 28^th August on Vh1 India and our official YouTube Page.

How did the song actually take shape?

Tears of the Wizard was created when we were writing songs for the Download Festival in 2007. We came up with five to six different ideas, from which three songs came out including, Am I Dreaming. Nitin came up with a very Gothic riff, resembling the behrawi raagin Indian classical music, which we further developed. We decided to include a lot of violin in it as well, as we had to cater to Western audiences.

You shot at Mechuka valley in Arunachal Pradesh, any reason for this?

Mechuka is a place in Shi Yomi district in Arunachal Pradesh. It is a magical place and magical land. We went there two years ago to play a concert and we were bowled over and wanted to play there. The video is not just about the band, but also the natural beauty of Mechuka Valley, which is right next to the Indo-China border, surrounded by mountains and a river flowing past it. We were disconnected from all sorts of communication for an entire week, but it felt like heaven.

Are you also a big fan of the film “Lord of the Rings”?

No but Nitin Malik is an ardent ‘Lord of the Rings’ fan, whose song Am I Dreaming is based on the character Frodo. Gandalf is usually seen as a powerful and invincible character, but here we have portrayed his vulnerability in this song. Gandalf The Grey is killed and resurrected in the second part of the movie. Interestingly, Nitin’s wife Indrakshi Pattanaik Malik styled the look for all the band members in the video, which features Nitin Malik as the lead vocalist, Sonam Sherpa and Saurabh Chaudhry on guitars, me on keyboards, Gaurav Balani as the bassist, and Srijan Mahajan on drums.

Any upcoming collaboration we can look forward to?

We recently did a show for Assam in Delhi and we collaborated with Sharvi Yadav, the winner of The Stage Season 2. We are concentrating on the soulful side of Parikrama as of now, which includes softer numbers like Till I Am No One Again and Open Skies, where you can enjoy the music. But there will be a few heavy numbers too. Parikrama is always very open for collaborations and we look forward to more collaborations.

An advice you would like to give to aspiring musicians?   

Advice is the same to focus on what you’re doing and believe in yourself. My advice from decades ago is to stay focused and be on it. From the first show to the 3000^th show, it hasn’t felt so long. It feels that we just started yesterday.

Interviewed by Verus Ferreira