When celebrated Indian lyricist-poet Irshad Kamil launched his band, The Ink Band, two years ago, his purpose was clear. It fuses poetry recitation with music, garnished with a little bit of singing. The idea of coming up with the outfit germinated from the need to give poetry and good writing its due credit. тАЬIt’s for all language lovers. Normally, bands are synonymous with music, but ours is a poetry band, which firmly believes on words more than beats,тАЭ says Irshad. The Ink Band has come up with a new single, Khoobsurat Khayal, which has been garnering rave reviews from poetry and music aficionados. In an interview with Saachibaat.com, the lyricist talks about the single, how it worked out during the lockdown, how the pandemic inspired it, and more.┬а
Did the pandemic/lockdown pose any problem, with regards to rehearsals and recording of the single?
We, as a band, have always believed in jamming and rehearsing together for all our projects. During the lockdown, this was next to impossible. Yet, we didnтАЩt let that dampen our spirits, rather we resolved to make the best of the situation. Initially, our moods weren’t upbeat, but as we began the process, poetry and music helped us sail through beautifully.
When did you write this poetry? What was the idea behind it?
This poem was born out of the depressing and dark situation of the lockdown. Life felt so vulnerable, yet the spirits felt invincible. Everything ordinary became special. Amidst all this emotional chaos, Khoobsurat Khayal happened. A poem about undying light and happiness. What lies at the core of this poem was the power of thought. Thoughts are our only friends that decide the course of our lives and dichotomy lies in the fact that itтАЩs we who design and shape these thoughts.
How long did it take to work on this single?
The single is a result of 20 days of labour by The Ink Band.
Yours is a different kind of band. Do you think The Ink Band is receiving the kind of response from the audience that you expected while starting out?
When the destination isn’t preset, the journey gets more exciting. Being the first poetry band was never unconventional, rather exciting for us. When we started out, we were way too excited to even bother about the response. But now when we look back, itтАЩs been a great ride so far. The youth is finding an amazing connect with our band. We feel this happening because Ink Band resonates with their emotions, gives words to their unsaid feelings. We have majorly performed in post-graduate colleges, IITтАЩs, literature festivals and at high-profile artistic gatherings. Currently, a few virtual shows have being offered to us and we are still contemplating about them. The desire to learn and understand poetry among the youth has also pushed us to a new venture on Facebook, called Penfriends of Irshad Kamil. This group is dedicated to poetry. The idea behind this group is to nurture the art of poetry writing among the youth.
How many singles do you look at releasing each year?
Nothing is fixed in life. Poetry is a creative flow and our band will follow that.
Which artistes feature in Khoobsurat Khayal?
Thank you very much for asking this specifically. Agnel Roman is the music director and guitarist of the band. He composes all the stuff we perform. Ragini Shankar plays the violin. She is in a music faculty at Whistling Woods International. Parul Mishra is a trained singer with a melodious voice and Aniket Kar is our accomplished pianist. Tasveer anchors us all. She is the creative and vocal director of our band. The Khoobsurat Khayal video has been conceptualised and designed by her.
Ms. Soumya Vajpayee
Senior Entertainment & Lifestyle Journalist
Lovely!