The crowd loves Strings: Indian Ocean

Delhi-based music band Indian Ocean will be sharing the stage this time with Pakistani band Strings for Aman Ki Asha in Ahmedabad on February 20, where two distinct kinds of music will merge.
“Every time Indian Ocean and Strings have played together, it’s been great. The crowd loves Strings; they have an energetic act and they come from a music distinct from that of Indian Ocean.There is no overlap between our music, but still we play on the same stage and the same people like us. And that is what I find very interesting, which tells us that people, on any side of the border, are willing to listen to every kind of music, bas music bananewale hone chahiye,” says Indian Ocean’s drummer Amit Kilam.
Indian Ocean had earlier performed with Strings on various occasions, but never collaborated as such, and this Aman Ki Asha concert might see the two bands in a jugalbandi. “We performed with them once in Kharagpur, once in Bangalore and once in Delhi. But it was only in Bangalore that we collaborated, we played the same song... But we might do a jam together onstage for Aman Ki Asha. When we meet them on the 20th morning, we will go through a list of songs that we feel like doing and then we will see if we can pull it off.”
Talking about the importance of musical collaborations between artistes from various nations, Amit stresses the fact that music doesn’t have boundaries, and should not be restricted to any either. “Hum jab gaana sunte hai, tab hum border thodi na dekhte hai. Vocals or instrumental se Pakistan, Hindustan, Iran, Afghanistan thodi na samajh aata hai. And the world is such a large place yaar, and so much good music out there, and so we should not limit ourselves with boundaries, like yeh Hindustan ka hai, aur yeh Pakistan ka.”
The common people are peace-loving and simple at heart, says the drummer, and goes on to talk about the significance of peace initiatives between nations. “Every initiative of peace is important, every one. Basic peace toh already logon ke beech mein hoti hai, it’s the politicians that make us fight... Those emotions are short-lived and peace is the only thing that can give long-term prosperity to a nation. But what happens is that the political agendas of a lot of people don't match and unfortunately it's the politics that lead us to war. Jung koi aur logon ki hoti hai, aur beech mein bechare aam log phaste hain."
So will we see Indian Ocean collaborating with different artistes in the future? “Yes, for our next album, we will be collaborating with seven different artistes - that is, seven songs with seven different artistes. Out of these, three will be from India, and the rest will be from abroad, and we are keen to look at one artiste from Pakistan, maybe Strings or someone else. So when we meet them this time, we will explore what we can do.”
Indian Ocean is also looking forward to performing in Pakistan, if the opportunity arises. “We’ll seriously consider it if the opportunity presents itself. We’d love to see how that pans out.” The concert will be held on February 20 at the Vastrapur Lake in Ahmedabad, from 7pm onwards.
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