Krosswindz, a cross-pollination of global folk traditions

09 July, 2006

Kolkata: Krosswindz has been composing music, which is deeply rooted in the soil, touches the heart and speaks the common language of humankind.

Primarily a progressive rock band and currently focussing on world music and soulful and lyric oriented songs, Krosswindz has been professionally performing concerts all over India for the past 15 years. The band is a cross-pollination of rural folk music of India with the sounds of folk traditions from around the world. Vikramjit Banerjee, Chandrani, Ratanjit, Nigel Gomez, Robbie Gomango and Rajiv Sunam comprise the band.

The band was formed in 1990 and draws influences from Pat Metheny, Pink Floyd, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, Joni Mitchell, Basudev Baul, Ghulam Ali, Eric Johnson, Paban Das Baul, Sting, Nitin Sawhney and Jimi Hendrix. Krosswindz is renowned for the musical dexterity of its musicians.

The band has evolved over the early years from being a covers playing rock band to a progressive world/fusion band, and has gained repute all over the world for its path breaking new music and fresh approach. In its early years, the band struggled financially as the number of shows were less but the reputation of the band as being a stupendous live act spread and gigs picked up by the mid-1990s and nowadays on an average the band has 10 to 12 shows a month compared to 12 shows a year in 1990.

Krosswindz has been a pioneer in the band movement in West Bengal. The first Bengali project/collaboration with Gautam Chatterjee of Mohiner Ghoraguli yielded the anthemic hit ‘Bhebe Dekhecho Ki’. Released in 1994-95, the album Aabar Bochor Kooree Porey has become a staple amongst music lovers. The collaboration happened when Chatterjee suggested that the band record and perform one track he had written and set tune to in 1993, and eventually the studio sessions yielded the astonishing new Bengali side of the band. Bollywood has now remade this song in the movie Gangster, and the Hindi version is doing the rounds on all music channels.

The album Music Of The Globe features two tracks by Krosswindz namely ‘One World’ and ‘Mahut Bondhu’, which was re-released in the USA by Joe Anthony Productions. The album has gone on to become a hot seller from Amazon and other online merchants apart from being popular at conventional music stores, like Tower.

The music of Krosswindz has been featured in numerous documentary films and commercials. The international award winning film Way Back Home by filmmaker Supriyo Sen featured the vocals of Chandrani prominently as a background score for the film.

The band has appeared on many major national and international television shows and reputed production houses, like BBC and MTV. It has also performed in a telefilm directed by noted Parambrata Chatterjee. The soundtrack in the film was the music from the band’s latest album Misiki Misiki. The band also appears regularly on game shows and interviews on popular Indian TV channels.

The fan following for the band has increased in over the time in sub-continent and in other parts of the world, mainly the USA, the UK, Mexico and Ireland. With specialisation in ambient progressive fusion and folk, the band has toured almost all over the sub-continent and has played at all major college festivals and stadium concerts.

[Banerjee is the lead-guitarist and bandleader of Krosswindz.]