Insomnia (rock band)

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INSOMNIA
Image:Insomnia logo web.jpg
The mark of sleeplessness
Background information
Origin Kolkata, India
Genre(s) Alternative Nu age
Progressive rock
Years active 2002 -
Label(s) Independent Label
Asha Audio
HMV
Members
Vocals - Sayantan Neogi (Ninnai), Vocals/Guitars - Rajarshi Barman (Dodo), Vocals/Keyboards - Souvik Gupta (Savvy), Guitars - Bodhisattwa Ghosh (Bodhi), Bass - Prasenjit Chakrabutty (Pom), Drums - Rohit Nandi (Rohit), Manager - Rahul Mehra (Paiya)
Former members
Subhojit Roy Chowdhury (Subho), Sudipto Banerjee (Buti), Dipanjan Mukherjee (Ebu), Santanu Das Roy (Tito), Ayan Dasgupta (Boom), Sougata Basu (Papa)

Insomnia is a Rock band based in Kolkata, [1] West Bengal. The band's repertoire includes both English and Bangla songs. The band has an album each in English (Cry of the Spirit - self released) and Bangla (Proloyer Shomoye - Asha Audio).[2][3][4] Insomnia is one of the most notable new Rock bands from Eastern India for its unique sound, stage presence and bilingual repertoire. Insomnia are also quite adept at executing live music for theatre, being part of the act itself, in plays such as Peacewards[5] (directed by Jayant Kripalani, produced by Red Curtain Productions, based on monologues written by Manjula Padmanabhan), a 3rd theatre version of 'Rokto Korobi'[6](written by Rabindranath Tagore, conceptualised by Badal Sarkar, directed by Parnab Mukherjee, starring Sudipta Chakraborty) and numerous other plays. Opekkha from their Bangla album Proloyer Shomoye was part of the original soundtrack of the first Bangla sex comedy movie Aamra[7][8] (produced by Venkatesh fims, directed by Mainak Bhaumik, cast - Parambrata Chatterjee, Jisshu Sengupta, Rudranil Ghosh, Nilanjanaa, Ananya Chatterjee, Kaushik Ghosh, Rajatava Datta, Momo).

Insomnia plays every week at Someplace Else[9][10], The Park Wednesday midnights. The band has quite a following at the emerging Princeton Club[11], as well.

Contents

[edit] Band Members (Insomniacs)

  • Vocals - Sayantan Neogi (Ninnai) - A student of Maestro Abraham Mazumder in the violin and double bass in the Western Classical mode. He also works under the 'on-air name' RJ Sayan with 107.8 Power FM. He writes copy for advertising agencies and articles for magazines apart from music for the band.
  • Vocals/Guitars - Rajarshi Barman (Dodo) - A student of Srijukto Bhudeb Gupta in Hindusthani Kantha Sangeet in the mode of the Bishnupur Gharana. He's otherwise a music teacher and also teaches Commerce subjects to advanced students. He's a painter as well.
  • Vocals/Keyboards - Souvik Gupta (Savvy) - A quintissential 'band' keyboardist with a unique vocal style. A very talented composer (the local AR Rahman), he's also a partner of the first rent-out practice pad in Kolkata, Octaves. He also works in the line of shipping engineering.
  • Guitars - Bodhisattwa Ghosh (Bodhi) - A student of the modern legend Amyt Datta in Blues and Jazz. He's not only an innovative guitarist but an equally inventive songwriter. He also works as a quality control manager with an essential electric supply company.
  • Bass - Prasenjit Chakrabutty (Pom) - A self-taught genius, he's a brilliant exponent of both flamenco on the six-string and funk on the bass. He's also a sound engineer and is currently working with AMSI radio production.
  • Drums - Rohit Nandi (Rohit) - Mostly self-taught, he's one of the only 'bounce' players in town. A creative drummer, in his playing, he incorporates all the various styles he's known to be a self-student of.
  • Manager - Rahul Mehra (Paiya) - Having roots in the corporate world, he's not only a student of PR but also a great exponent of it. A well-connected party animal, a hard worker, a 'client-satisfier' and a person with a deep appreciation for art.

The current line up of the band seems to be the most stable one and the most popular. The best thing is that the current members individually come from very different musical backgrounds, nevertheless, they gel extremely well and come together to create the variant and unique Insomnia sound.

[edit] Discography

Year of Release Title Label Language
2004 Cry of the Spirit Independent Label English
2006 Proloyer Shomoye Asha Audio Bangla
2008 Parallel Universe (Single)

Underground

 HMV English

[edit] The Band's Journey

Insomnia plugged in for the first time in 1999 as the South Point High School band[12]. After numerous line up changes the new recruits were all from different schools: Sayantan Neogi (Ninnai) - La Martiniere for boys, Kolkata; Prasenjit Chakrabutty (Pom) - Don Bosco Park Circus; and Souvik Gupta (Savvy) - Nava Nalanda High School. Therefore, unlike popular belief, Insomnia is not an SPHS band even though it started out as one.

Insomnia's first show as a professional outfit was on 7th July, 2002 in Music World, Park Street. The band has gone through many potentially crippling line-up changes. However against all odds they stuck on and the current line up has been active since the middle of 2005.

Noteworthy performances by the band:

  • Insomnia were Eastern Zonal Winners and All – India 2nd Runners up at Castrol Garage Rock, 2003 held in Mumbai
  • 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
    • Jadavpur University, Electrical Engineering, Freshers’ welcome, 2004
    • Jadavpur University, Mechanical Engineering, Freshers’ welcome, 2004
    • District Interact Council, Annual Fest, 2004
    • St. Xavier’s College Kolkata, Xavotsav 2004
    • District Rotaract Council, Annual Fest, 2005
    • Dr. B. C. Roy Engineering College, Durgapur, Annual Fest, 2005
    • Meghnath Saha Institute Of Technology 2005
    • Jadavpur University, Arts Faculty, Sanskriti 2006
    • St. Xavier’s College Kolkata, Xavotsav 2007
    • Institute of Technology & Marine Engineering, Impulse 2007
    • Gupta College of Technology & Science, Asansol, Panacea 2007
    • JIS College of Engineering, Kalyani, Annual Fest 2007
    • Jadavpur University, Arts Faculty, Sanskriti 2007
    • Gyan Ghosh Memmorial College, Annual Fest 2007
    • Heritage Institute of Technology, Eclecia 2007
    • Calcutta Medical College, Annual Fest 2007
    • Bankura Sammilani Medical College, Synapse 2007
    • St. Stephen's School, Dum Dum, Reunion 2007
    • Kalyani Govt. College of Engineering, Annual Fest 2007
    • Bethune College, Annual Fest 2007
    • South Point Reunion 2008
    • West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS), Outlawed 2008
    • Techno India Hooghly, Chinsura, Verbena 2008
    • Sikkim Manipal University, Ballygunge Phari, Kolkata, Live Wire 2008
    • Dinabandhu Andrews Institute of Technology & Management, Razzmatazz 2008
    • St. Thomas' College of Engineering and Technology, Atria 2008
    • Government College of Engineering & Ceramic Technology, Jagriti 2008
    • Carmel Convent School, Jamshedpur, 10th Anniversary Celebrations, 2008
    • Ramakrishna Mission Shilpapeeth Belghoria, Boreas 2008
    • Saroj Mohan Institute of Technology, Guptipara, Annual Fest 2008
  • Insomnia organised the concert, Reach Out and played in it along with the leading English bands of Calcutta. The concert also featured Usha Uthup, Amyt Datta and Nandan Bagchi and raised funds for the children of Reach.
  • In 2003, Insomnia featured in ‘Peacewards’, a Red Curtain productions play based on monologues by Manjula Padmanabhan. The play was directed by Jayant Kripalani and saw the band live on stage doing a musical narration
  • In 2003 again, Insomnia soundscaped a third theatre version of Rabindranath Tagore’s play, ‘Rakta Karabi’, which was directed by Parnab Mukherjee and featured actress Sudipta Chakraborty. In 2004, under the same director, Insomnia soundscaped third theatre versions of Shakespeare’s ‘Measure for Measure’ and ‘King Lear’
  • In November 2004, Insomnia became the first band in the city to have an unplugged concert in the bag. It was held at Caffeine, Elgin Road
  • In April 2005, Insomnia performed along with Fossils, Aasma and Neha Bhasin in aid of the Tsunami victims in the ‘One World’ concert held at La Martiniere for boys grounds
  • In November 2005, Insomnia went to Thimpu, Bhutan and performed at the country’s premier night club, Space 34
  • In January 2006, Insomnia launched themselves in the Bangla Rock circuit at ‘Republic Rock’ along with acts from Bangladesh such as Warfaze, Artcell, Metalmaze, ArboVirus and acts from West Bengal such as Lakkhichara, Cactus and Fossils
  • In December 2007, Insomnia put up a concert as part of the centenary celebration of TATA steel in Jamshedpur in the coveted XLRI auditorium.

[edit] Videos

[edit] External Links

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Ghoshal, Shounak. "Get Set Rock!", Kolkata Mirror, The Times of India, 2008-01-04. 
  2. ^ "New music mantra", Young Metro, The Telegraph (Calcutta), 2006-04-06. 
  3. ^ Chatterjee, Chandreyee. "Band of boys", The Good Life, The Telegraph (Calcutta), 2006-10-30. Retrieved on 2007-11-03. 
  4. ^ Prasanna's Blog.
  5. ^ Peacewards. Peaceworks. Retrieved on 2007-11-03.
  6. ^ Parnab Mukherjee. Laboratory for Enthusiastic Collaboration Company Bios. Laboratory for Enthusiastic Collaboration. Retrieved on 2007-11-03.
  7. ^ Mitra, Mandira. "Hip posturing", The Telegraph (Calcutta), 2006-10-29. Retrieved on 2007-11-03. 
  8. ^ "Tollywood top draws 2006", The Telegraph (Calcutta), 2006-10-31. Retrieved on 2007-11-03. 
  9. ^ Rohit Nyss' Blog.
  10. ^ Pushan Nirvava666's blog.
  11. ^ Samarjit Das'blog.
  12. ^ Priyo fother mucker. Shattered Nostalgia.
  13. ^ Santo meets Zimmerman. Blog for Mohiner Ghorahuli.