There’s no doubt that Agni (Fire) was one of the few bands of the first wave of the Indian Rock music scene. Bharat Swamy, an ex member of the band is best known as the founder and the lead singer/composer and songwriter of the band. Besides him there was also Pravin Bell and Juggie. Formed in 1985, the trio brought on Rustom (Ross) Kayani and Kaustubh (Koko) Dhavale in 1992. 

The band was extremely popular with youngsters and had a huge fan following during the 1990s. The band released their debut album ‘Wind Dance with Fire’ (1993) through Virgo Music record label (Navin Salian).

The album was well received with songs like Kashmir, Et Tu Brute among many others with some unforgettable music videos. Their video for Darkening Light, a brilliant classic rock track, received a fair amount of airplay on MTV Asia and the band looked set to go places. But as with most bands of that first wave prior to the phenomenon called Internet, their popularity did not translate to commercial viability because of relatively poor album sales and absence of other avenues of revenue generation, such as concerts and merchandise.

With another album titled ‘Mrityunjaya - Victor Over Death’ to be released soon, the band was on a high, when tragedy struck. The band saw the unfortunate death of bassist Nitin Jagtap (Juggie) and their manager Mandar Alurkar (Mandy) in a car accident on 15^th May 1995. Bharat was inconsolable and left the country to travel, come to terms and move ahead in life.

25 years hence, Bharat was faced with the situation of having to work from home, owing to the COVID-19 situation. With ample time on his hands, he worked in complete quarantine and released a cover version of the Michael Jackson’s Earth Song, which crossed in excess of a 1000 hits within the first few hours of its release on 30^th April 2020. The video had a social message of COVID-19 and has received astounding reviews on its vocal, audio and video compilation.

This sparked an idea and led to the launch of Agni webbed (A Digital Rock venture). Bharat released his 2^nd song (an original composition) also from his quarantined place of residence, re-worked from his first album and now being called The Monster Within and use the theme of depression to reach out to all those who may be going through a tough situation in these difficult times. It also throws light on the need for people with depression to seek help.

This song was released on 15^th May in memory of his 2 friends who passed away on this day. It is available on YouTube. The power of music is beyond recompense and is the best via medium to reach out to those who are afraid to come out and talk about what they are going through.

Agni Webbed is wholly a solo project of Bharat and would be in the near future releasing other original compositions, videos, online concerts, and online platforms.

The animated music video, with its powerful vocals and emotionally charged lyrics, is sure to make you reach for the replay button. The song, taken from Agni’s Darkening Light is a beautiful tribute to Juggie and Mandy. Bharat has surely kept the Fire alight.

Here is the link to the song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdL7Ep0pIDs

By Verus Ferreira