Orient Express-Salsa Loops...

ORIENT EXPRESS :

They love to salsa. And that Bossa Nova beat always gets them going. Meet Monojit Datta and his wife of eight years, Sreya, both of who are an intrinsic part of Calcutta’s only Latin band, The Orient Express. Every Monday night in the smoky environs of The Park™s popular watering hole, Someplace Else, you âll find the two, along with the remaining eight members of the band, seducing the crowd with Samba and Salsa or jamming to the heady beats of Latin Jazz.

Monojit is a gifted percussionist, composer and lyricist who has since the very beginning, steered The Orient Express on the right track. For the past eight years now, the band has been doing the rounds of the local music circuit, taking their unique blend of music everywhere from college campuses and nightclubs to television shows and even Ramoji Film City for a New Year’s Eve bash about three years ago. Monojit and The Orient Express have released four albums thus far including The Night is Young, Sizzling, Colores and Bondhu Shunte Pacho, their maiden attempt to infuse some Latin magic into the Bangla market. The endeavour obviously worked for the band is now hard at work on another Bangla album which is slated for release later this year or early next year.

Adding a good measure of woman power to the band is trained classical pianist, Sreya, whose forte is the accordion.

Catch Orient express live every monday at usual 9 pm slot
at Some Place Else (the Park) Kolkata

Prithibi-The True World...

Prithibi :

Originally what started out as a college band back in 14th august 2001 has indeed come a long way. The line up has seen changes over the years and it has been a chemical reaction which has been permutated And combined like crazy but finally got ready to take centre stage with six groovy musicians….

Prithibi first came into lime light at Band-E-Mataram – an all state Rock competition organized by Sangeet bangla an acclaimed music channel. They were the runners up of that event but they sent out their vibrations All throught the state……

Wat started out as an experiment in the college staircase and the regular evening addas of coffee house and Nandan now finally Hit the Calcutta Bengali Music Circuit head on with a big bang. Till date they have done at least more than 150 live stage shows a considerable number of jingle work And innumerable college fests….

This band boasts of musicians of a very high pedigree Prithibi is
Kaushik – Lead vocals
Ameen - Key boards\backing vox
Proshanto- Bassist \backing vox
Samarpan – guitars\backing vox
Bubun- Lead Guitars
Tabla- Drums/Pad

The sound of prithibi is very groovy with a sharp edge of Classic rock – The band has their first album all ready and set for mastering and it is To be released in early January A heavy influence of revolutionary tendencies and antiestablishment Can be found in their lyrics

Members also attached with the Likes of Crystal Grass -- Kheya
-- and the likes

Contact Details: prithibimusic@rediffmail.com
Phone: Email lettersandtomatoes@gmail.com for number
Website: Under construction

Insomnia-The True South Pointers...

Insomnia :

Think about sleep and being awake in longing for sleep. Symbolically, they represent the states of ‘rest and unrest’ or ‘peace and disturbance’. In our lives, everyday is an endless disturbing struggle for existence, living, life…this state of unrest that we all live in, is what we call INSOMNIA. It is our search, as a band, to find answers and pave ways out of this unrest to that state of peace and serenity. It is our intention to lead all of us to that Promised Land.

Who are ‘INSOMNIA’?

1. Vocals – Sayantan
2. Vocals/Guitars – Dodo
3. Guitars /Vocals – Bodhi
4. Keyboards/Vocals – Souvik
5. Bass – Pom
6. Drums – Rohit

Public Relations: Rahul Mehra

Genre:

‘Visionary Rock’: Rock music with a vision; music that makes you think; music that makes sense. In our self-composed music, we would not like to place ourselves in any rigid genre, as we work with many kinds of sounds and arrangements but the closest description would be nu-age alternative rave rock . There is an emphasis on lyrical content. We draw inspiration from classic hard rock, art music, psychedelia, electronica, new age, blues, etc.

As we believe ‘music is not only classical but also massical’, we perform our stage shows in vast array of musical genres covering popular songs from pop to rock to dance to psychedelia. We do this in both English and Bangla. However, we are best at our own music.

Along with stage performances and concerts, we also do theatre sound-scaping and background scoring for films and serials.

Insomnia were Eastern Zonal Winners and All – India 2nd Runners up at Castrol Garage Rock, 2003 held in Mumbai

Insomnia were Finalists at the All – India Rock band competition at Springfest 2003, IIT Kharagpur

Insomnia have rocked crowds in schools and colleges on the following occasions:


R G Kar Medical College freshers’ welcome, 2003

South Point High School, Melting Point, 2004

Pailan Institute of Management freshers’ welcome, 2004

Calcutta Medical College, Annual Fest, 2004

District Interact Council, Annual Fest, 2004

St. Xavier’s College, Xavotsav, 2004

etc...


Insomnia organised the concert, Reach Out and played in it along with the leadingEnglish bands of Calcutta. The concert also featured Usha Uthup, Amyt Datta and Nandan Bagchi and raised funds for the children of Reach.

Insomnia in 2002 paid tribute to Pink Floyd & Jimmy Hendrix at the Srijan Rooftop

Albums:
Cry Of The Spirit self Produced english album

Proloyer Somoi First ever Bengali Alternative Album Released By Asha Audio

Telephone : Email lettersandtomatoes@gmail.com for details

Address : 281, Jodhpur Park. Kolkata-700 068. West Bengal. India

Email : insomnia1999@sify.com

Cassinis Division...

Cassinis Division : For five years Cassini's Division have been taking their brand of emotionally charged modern rock to an ever growing audience with whom the band seems to share an uncanny, almost spiritual connection.Based in Calcutta, India, the band weaves a sonic tapestry that combines the whiplash distortion of nu-metal and the melodic heart of emo with the ambient darkness of Goth pop. With major Indian rock festivals and a limited edition EP under its belt, the band is set to enter the studio in August to begin recording their first full length album The Ringside View. Musical Influences:

Rahul: Singer-songwriters Bob Dylan, Eddie Vedder, Michael Stipe, jazz-fusion guitar greats from Jeff Beck to Larry Carlton, progressive groups like Yes and King Crimson, African and Indian music.

John: Dilip 'Nutun' Dutt - acoustic guitar guru, who got me really listening and my sister, Lena, for hiding the chords. Phil Keaggy, Michael O'Martian, Pat Metheny, Eric Johnson, Nathan East, Stefan Lessard, Nightwish, Rhapsody, Nirvana, Radiohead, Incubus, Staind, Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit.

Sukanti: Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Saxon, Tesla, AC/DC, Jethro Tull, Poison, Alice Cooper, Van Halen, Black Sabbath, Steve Vai, Eric Johnson, Linkin Park, Eminem, Crazytown, 311, Alien Ant Farm, Disturbed, REM, Pet Shop Boys.

Ludo: Santana, Sting, Mongo Santa Maria, Tito Puente, Pink Floyd, Carlos 'Patato' Valdez, Jimi Hendrix, Jethro Tull, Michael Jackson, Gloria Estefan, The Police, DMB, Richie Gajate-Garcia, Al Di Meola, Giovanni Hidalgo, Amyt Dutta, Monojit Dutta.

Earlier members : Arka das aka Dodo (drums) presently playing at Ganga Groove
Shoumik aka bangon (bassist) presently working somewhere out of Kolkata

Albums :
Living in the Loop (ep-released--)
The Ring side View (comming in jan\feb)
Band Contact info :
Email : Omega@Cassinisdivision.com
Phone number:email at lettersandtomatoes@gmail.com (for ph numbers)
Postal Address: FD 243, SectorIII, Salt Lake City, Kolkata 700-091



For more info log on to : www.cassinisdivision.com