AS OF NOW Nomad Frequency is a relatively new band in the music circuit if one talks in terms of gigs. However, it all started way back in 2000 when I was fiddling with percussions, while Norgais, another band member, was learning to play the guitars and Norboo was practicing on the bass.
We were sitting in a café enjoying our summer vacation in Leh, when an idea to form a band came to our mind. And, since then there has been no turning back for the band. Although, we all faced lot of ups and downs, we somehow managed to stay afloat.
When we started we were a five-peice band – Norboo on the bass, Tsewang on the keyboards, Arif on the rhythm guitar and vocals, Norgais on the lead guitar and I on drums. Most of the time we would land up at Tsewang or Norboo’s place in Patparganj, Delhi or Norgais’ college and jam. During our jam sessions we somehow never played any covers and would just jam with music being composed on the spot and doing a lot of improvisation, and that is something we have maintained even to this day. This is something which we all consider to be very important in shaping our style of music and helping us learn from each other.
It is through these improvisational jamming sessions that we came to understand each other’s style of playing. It also created a bonding within the band in terms of music and understanding, which is an essential to compose original music.
None of us ever received any formal training, except Norgais, who took lessons for three months in 2002. The reason why we never got any particular training was that we were not sure how far we would go as a band. Further, at the time of the formation of the band we had very little information about the music schools in Delhi. All of us being students and from outside Delhi, living on our own, we did not have the money for music lessons. Fortunately, the Internet came to our rescue and we used it to increase our knowledge of music. Even now we are learning and planning to take music lessons.
To start our career in music, we did some shows at the Netaji Subhash Institute of Technology, Hansraj College and the world peace music festival in Leh Ladakh, mostly playing covers. After that there was no show for a long time. That was because the band was going through a low phase.
In our early years of formation, we named our band Nomads. We took this name mainly because all of us are childhood friends and more like brothers hanging around at each other’s place. Although, we drifted from one place to the other, we were always together like a family. Moreover, we were from Ladakh, which is a mixture of both nomadic and agrarian society. We could relate to the word nomad, as we had our roots in the nomadic way of life. Later, a friend suggested the name Nomad from Hell. However, later we could not relate to the phrase ‘from hell’ and took up the name Nomad Frequency on the suggestion of Norboo.
In 2002 Tsewang and Arif quit the band for pursuing career in engineering. At that time Norgais, who was playing in the college band of Maulana Azad Medical College called Borrowed Season as a bass player introduced us to Vivek Nair, the lead guitarist of the band. We invited Vivek for a jam session and intently hit it off. Later, Vivek joined our band as the vocalist and guitar player and formed the current band line up.
Our first show with the current band line up – Vivek on lead vocals and guitars, Norboo on bass and backing vocals, Norgais on lead guitars and I on drums, percussions and flute – was in the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi. We met another band called Prithvi during our show. Soon, we became good friends and did a number of jam sessions together. Arjun Kaul, the front man of Prithvi suggested the idea of going to Dhanaulti as they were playing there. We had a great time performing there and felt that it was an excellent platform for the upcoming musicians and bands.
Nomad Frequency is very much influenced by classical rock, funk, jazz and Indian classical music. We are currently in the phase of fusing these influences and creating a sound for the band, which although a tedious process, is taking shape gradually. We are also working on some original music and in fact sang two of our original songs at Dhanaulti Rock Festival.
I believe that the Indian music scene is very different from the Western music style, as most of the Indian bands are making their own music through fusion. Further, our social background and culture is also very different from the Western world. However, there are other differences between the Indian and Western rock music, which is generally not favourable for the Indian rock scene. For instance, there is only a selected crowd of people which listen to rock music in India, and even out of them only a miniscule few appreciate original music. Further, there is also an insecurity attached to taking up music as a profession among rock bands in India.
However, I feel that there is a shift taking place in this arena as there has been an increase in the number of Indian bands in the recent past, and some of them are even getting international acclaim. This is clearly evident on seeing the increasing number of good music schools in various places. Even in our band, we have musicians who are working in other professions as well. For instance, Vivek and Norgais are doctors, Norboo is a student of Japanese at Jawaharlal Nehru University and I am studying to be a pilot. However, we will never leave music and do not intend to leave the band.
[Lekdan is the drummer of Nomad Frequency.]
