Story of The Black Pearls
It was when the junior batch came
that I had serious interest in making a rock music band. Anish Lawrence was a
great talented guitarist and luckily my neighbor also. Many days we sat
together and sang lots of songs. It was the time when Vivek Krishnan became the
Arts Club secretary and opportunities were flowing. Both of us performed for
the evening dinner in most of the conferences(CME) held in our college. Most
often the song was “ Alliyambal Kadavil”. Anish was rocking in the lead guitar.
We were getting opportunities for competitions outside and expansion was necessary.
Sarin joined us as the accompanying vocalist cum violinist. He is proficient in
Karnatic music which I have not learned officially. Anoop Rajan is a talented
guitarist and we got him as our rhythm guitarist. Initially for some shows we
hired Shibu from outside and later we got Lakshmanan who was a
professional Mridangam player as our
drummer. It was the genesis of The Black
Pearls. One hidden reason behind the
name was that most of us in the band were dark.
All the band mates were one year junior to me. We bought a second hand Base guitar and I took
over the base also.
The first Black Pearl team with Jibu and Shaji. Standing from Left- Vivek, Jibu, Me, Lakshmanan, Shaji. Sitting from Left- Anish, Sarin, Anoop.
Meanwhile I am proud to have performed
with the famous guitarist Baiju of Mother Jane in our annual day celebrations
of my Kalagramam music school in VJT hall, Trivandrum. My teacher Biju Sir was
my Keyboardist, my old drums sir, Murugan who came with us to AIR Delhi, in
Drums. I sang Winds of Change, Words and Someday. Baiju’s performance was
rocking
Music was always my passion right
from the beginning. My Parents especially my mother was my first and my main
Guru. She introduced me to the world of western parts singing. Both my parents
had a guitar each and four of us including my sister had music sessions with
instruments on most days before the evening prayer. They even bought me a
keyboard.
Sunday School was one of the
greatest platforms where I could expose my talents, for several years I was
either the secretary or treasurer of the “Balasamajam”. Most often I used to
run the show performing any of the
various activities including Singing, Monoact, Mimicry, Elocution, Quizzing,
Skit and so on. We used to go out for various competitions and bagged many
prizes.
Right from KG school in KMNSS
School, Malappuram to primary School in Holy Trinity school, Trivandrum and to
High School in Christ Nagar School, Trivandum, I was part of the School Choir.
It was in Christ Nagar that my music aptitude became a serious business. Paramanandan Sir, the music teacher was my
official Guru. In 1991 our School Choir
won the 1st in the All India Radio (AIR) National Singing
competition and 20 of us including the present celebrities Vidhu Prathap,
Ronnie Raphael with our music teachers went to New Delhi for 2 weeks, stayed in
Kerala House and under the guidance of K.P.Udhayabhanu Sir, We learned and sang
songs in Sirifort Auditorium. After
that, we had sung songs for the AIR also.
Thanks to Boney M and Abba , from
whose songs I developed more interest in Western music. I still remember writing few poems during my childhood days.
The turning point towards making
of a band was when I joined Medical College Trivandrum in 1998. I did my first
western performance on the fresher’s day. The song was Milky way by MLTR and
Dr.Vivek Krishnan was on the keyboard. The primitive band expanded on
subsequent programs with Dr. Daniel Johnson on guitar and I remember playing
Someday by MLTR.
The first Black Pearl team with Jibu and Shaji. Standing from Left- Vivek, Jibu, Me, Lakshmanan, Shaji. Sitting from Left- Anish, Sarin, Anoop.
Back to Black Pearls. Inconveniences
for some guys forced me to search for replacements. I was in 2002 when we got
the greatest chance of performing for the Mathrubhumi Kalolsavam western music
competition. We got Renjith on additional backing vocals and Gautham on
keyboard. We won the second prize and was selected to perform for the finals in
Kochi. We still had to change our team and we got some friends from BDS batch
for the keyboard and rhythm guitar. We got Jobin who was 3 yrs junior to me as
our drummer. Those few days were
unforgettable. Eventhough we did not get prize, the whole program was like a
festival and Shan’s live performance in the Indoor stadium was charismatic.
The Black Pearls went on and it
was in 2003 that we had a chance to go for the intermedicals in calicut with
Sarin, Lakshmanan and Jobin’s classmates including Abraham and Belvin as
backing vocals, Aswin on keyboard and Vijay in lead guitar. We won the 3rd
prize for the intermedicals. The same team won the first for the
intercollegiate contest held in Karyavattom, Trivandrum later.
Standing from left- Vijay, Sarin,
Me, Lakshmanan and Abraham.
Sitting from left- Belvin and Aswin
Photo Courtesy – Vijay’ s
facebook Album
The Black Pearls was almost dead
for a long 10 years till it was rejuvenated with all new members in the team.
Well, it is for now no more a rock band but a group of enthusiastic people
interested in creating music albums.
Sitting from left- Renjith, Me, Rajesh, Narasimha, Sarath, Subeshnan and Shaji
Sitting from left- Renjith, Me, Rajesh, Narasimha, Sarath, Subeshnan and Shaji
All these years, I am the only
common factor in the team The Black Pearls. I am confident and I hope The Black
Pearls will achieve newer heights in the days to come. But thanks to everyone
who has come and gone and were a part of The Black Pearls. Without you all,
there would not have been a team called, The Black Pearls.
I am sure I might have missed
someone who has helped in the making of The Black Pearls but I must admit that
it is not on purpose.
No comments:
Post a Comment