FOR ALL THOSE who do not follow rock music festivals, the JRO stands for the June Rock Out, which is an annual musical event held in the month of June. According to Unwind Center, the organisation behind this musical fest, ‘Evolving as the mega music festival of India, JRO is a performance stage where bands get to perform before large, appreciative audiences.’

 

It was an impulsive idea to have a one-off festival in Chennai with eight bands, but the rock festival sprung its wings and took on the world. Each year from 1999 to 2005 unveiled an unbridled passion, and this movement of live rock expanded exponentially. The shift from the Chennai event came in the year 2000, when the rock bands from Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Cochin, etc. desperately sent their demos desiring to be a part of the JRO. International bands also wanted to be a part of the JRO, and 2004 saw Junoon, the rock band from Pakistan/US.

 

Three bands every Saturday in this month-long festival was really a winning formula, and rock lovers got to listen to the band or music genre they liked. The venue was a small basement in Unwind Center, Chennai, and everyone in the town decided that the JRO was the place to be. The venue was packed to the hilt.

Surpassing all boundaries and sneers, the festival hosted more than 80 bands from India, including Louis Banks, Red Rain from New Zealand and many more. The JRO has earned the undisputed title of India’s Mega Rock Festival.

It was the first edition of the JRO at Bangalore this year. Even though this edition started off on 10 June, I got to know about it after missing the first two weeks of it. Panatella kicked off the night with some decent music, belting out their own compositions and doing some covers after the request from the audience. This was the second time I was witnessing the performance of Panatella in Bangalore. Previously, they had performed at the Strawberry Fields.

 

IIIrd Sovereign, the death metal band from Mizoram, was the next one to take the stage. I had not heard of them before, so my expectations were not that high from them. They were not disappointing at all. The audience by then had swelled in numbers and the numerous death metal fans enjoyed the metal mania. It was pleasure for me to witness a live performance of a death metal band. All the members were good at their craft and the lead guitarist and the drummer impressed me a lot. I loved the bass guitar of Jonah. Prior to this, I had listened to another death metal band, the Mumbai-based Demonic Resurrection, performing at the Strawberry Fields.

 

Parousia, the rock band from Bangalore was the last band to perform. Frankly, I was in no mood to listen to soft rock after the high-octane performance of IIIrd Sovereign. Half the crowd had left by the time these guys played. I feel that the organisers should have gone by the order they had originally decided on, beginning with Parousia, moving to Panatella and winding up with IIIrd Sovereign.

 

Now, Bangalore has another annual musical event to its calendar. Unwind Center needs a round of applause for keeping the fest free from smoke, alcohol and sexual connotations in its true sense, which is very common among rock fests. Few words for the organisers, I feel they could improve on their public relations campaign, so that the festival gets wider audience.

 

Here is a brief extract of JRO, as found in its 2006 press release: ‘[The] JRO signifies attitude. Seven years of never say die attitude. In the 1960s, rock music was a gulp of freedom, an act of rebellion and the infectious “backbeat” kept rock immortal. [The] JRO story has similar overtones.

 

‘The rebellion has been against the voices that shouted, “Rock is dead! You are wasting your time! Try Indi-pop!” The gulp of freedom was to break the cult image of drugs and sex that has plagued rock music from the “baby boom” years. JRO’s vision is a lot bigger than 90 minutes of gig-time. [The] JRO is the voice of this generation that is searching for what is real and soul satisfying.’

 

Talking about the rock bands in India suddenly remind me of the Pakistani rock groups. Not long ago, Pakistani music meant to me popular Pakistani bands and singers like the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Junoon, Strings, Jal and Shehzad Roy, who being the latest is featured regularly on the music channels in India. I loved the songs of Junoon and Strings prior to their entry into Bollywood. I feel they sound more pop these days.

 

Coming back to the present, I started listening to songs listed under the section ‘Pakistani Underground’ in www.apniisp.com and was really surprised by the quality of music some of these bands have. Their music compositions and the lyrics really rock! India too has many rock bands that perform at various college rock festivals, but these bands never go mainstream. The main reason being the fact that majority of the audience in India listens to pop and Bollywood songs. Hence, the sponsors hesitate in supporting these rock artistes.

 

The Indian rock music industry has survived against all odds, despite the lack of sponsors. During my engineering days, I went to many inter-college festivals where rock fests were a common affair, but our college never gave us the permission to hold one during our festivals, and the same attitude faces many budding rock artists in India. Even though these artists get to perform at many rock festivals across the country, there are not any sponsors who are willing to sign them up and give an opportunity for these bands to go mainstream. And, the few bands, which do receive offers from music companies, they have strings attached to them and they want the bands to change their genre so that it can be catered to wider market.

 

I feel festivals like JRO, Fireflies, World Music Festivals and for that matter even Dhanaulti, etc. should be held across various parts of the country on an annual basis. Such festivals would provide an ideal medium for promoting upcoming Indian rock artists and also help them connect to wider audience. Headlines Today, the English news channel from the India Today group, airs a programme called Acoustica, which mainly showcases the budding musicians across the country. Let us have some more of these. 

 

...............