Skip to content Skip to navigation

‘Drihrata’ by Farmaan , a new dimension in Assamese music scenario

The sound that can melt hearts, the melody that can be felt within & the symphony that can bring a head bangers ball, in short this is what Farmaan can be defined as. Farmaan doesn’t have a constrained genre as all the members are having varied influences and musical inclination. It likes to do constant experiments with all kinds of music varying from classic rock & metal to RNB & blues.


Away from their hometown, all the members were quite academically inclined. They have completed their engineering from the prestigious institutions and are currently working as engineers in large PSUs and MNCs. They even got a chance to complete their Masters in elite colleges like Georgia Tech, NUS and many other colleges abroad but their love for the music couldn’t allow them to go away. They stayed back so that they could hold on to their dreams, the dream of making it big & creating a revolution in the Assamese music industry.


Although they stayed back it seemed that their dreams were fading away. Frustrated in their own office cubicles they were trying to work out a plan to get out of their monotonous office work. Luck shone on them and they could find like minded colleagues. This led to the inception of ‘ Vervain Productions’. The brain child of Soumya Dash, Vervain Productions has partners who are basically engineers from colleges like IITs & NITs.


Now under the banner of Vervain Productions the band has released their first album ‘DRIHRATA’ on 23rd May 2010. ‘Drihrata’ contains 9 tracks, 5 in Assamese, and 4 bonus tracks in Hindi. The fact that all the tracks are completely different and each has got its unique style is what makes this band so special. Language doesn’t have a barrier for the band so their lyrics are both in Assamese and Hindi. In the album it can be easily seen that the band doesn’t have any constrained genre, ‘Oxanto Hridoy’ is a power ballad, ‘ Lorali ‘ is a soft rock number, ‘Xopun’ is influenced by R&B and ‘Drihrata’ is more or less a Nu-metal number. So the album has something for everyone.


The band has also released a promotional vide of their song ‘ Oxanto Hridoy ‘ which is undoubtedly one of the costliest music video in the Assamese music industry. The song is about the frustrations of people of all ages which is very aptly portrayed by Deepak Dey , one of the leading video director and choreographer of Assam. The you tube link for the video is given below:









About the band:


Farmaan was formed in 2007 when childhood buddies Neil and Gazi met in Chennai and came to know about each other’s talent. Pursuing their graduation from different cities at that time, Neil and Gazi, managed to jam with Manash(drums) making Chennai as their base for jamming. The band used to practice on every weekend, Gazi would come all the way from Trichy which was a hectic 8 hrs bus journey. Their sound seemed to be fresh but the band felt the great need of a bassist. Finally they found their mutual friend, Madhurjya(Bass) back in Guwahati who completed the sound of Farmaan. During semester breaks they would jam in Guwahati and in a span of 1 year they recorded six tracks.


The band had to face many problems in the initial stages as their language, which was initially Hindi, hindered them to participate in the rock competitions held in IITs and NITs. Hindi rock was completely new and the crowd in Chennai and Bangalore was more inclined to death metal. But the band stuck to its genres and when they promoted its recorded tracks in all the colleges in Chennai the response that they got was immense. They were constantly invited as guest artists in many events of the different colleges. In December 2009 the band also got an invitation to perform in Mood Indigo, the annual cultural fest of IIT Mumbai but due to the job pressure of the band members they had to decline the offer. But now backed by Vervain Productions the band members are not hesitating even to the slightest extent to put their jobs on stake and pursue their true love which is music.


Band Members:



Gazi Mehboob ( Lead Guitars and Vocals):


A graduate in Production Engineering from NIT, Trichy, Gazi Mehboob, a self taught guitarist, has been running his fingers on the frets since the last 7 years. His influences are basically metal acts like Iron maiden , Megadeth , Opeth but at the same time he is also inclined towards sufi and Indian classical. He is the main person behind the compositions and lyrics. He loves to fuse metal with sufi music. He is currently working as a manager in NMDC Ltd, the leading mining organization of the government.


Neil Sarmah (Lead Vocals and Rhythm)


A passed out from SRM University in Electronics & Telecom, Neil Sarmah is a die hard fan of Nusrat, Rahat and Shafqat Amanat and considers them as his prime influence. He is open to all genres. He is a self learned vocalist and his main strength lies in the high pitched aalaps that can be heard in most of the songs of Farmaan. As he has not received any formal training Neil is planning to train himself in Indian Classical Music so that he can even refine his god gifted talent. He is currently working as an Asst. Systems Engineer in TCS, New Delhi.


Manash (Drums)


A graduate from SRM University in Electronics & Communication, Manash a.k.a Max has played the tabla for 12 years and managed to get a visharad before he switched to congo and drums. He is currently working as a Network Engineer in CISCO, Gurgaon.


Madhurjya (Bass)


Currently pursuing his B.Tech in Instrumentation Madhurjya has been associated with different bands in Guwahati before he joined Farmaan. His inclination is towards Nu-Metal, Punk, Grudge and but at the same time he is also a die hard fan of Harris, which can be seen in the bass lines of some of the metal acts of the band.

Comments

Yuvi's picture

Assamese music lovers were in need of such an album ..... the songs are really fantastic .... I guess it will totally redefine the way we see assamese music.... people should watch out for 'lorali' & 'Xopun jen lage '
Priyam Biswas's picture

I need to contact Mr. Deepak Dey, can anyone help?
bhaskarnil's picture

Nice piece of work man....gazi....ur dedication really works out..a must for every neo-assamese generation...for d love of the music..
Honey's picture

neil you rocks...wht to say? just keep on doing good work and entertain us.
Parmita Borah's picture

Great to know about Farmaan.. I think the picture was taken outside St. Anthony's College, Shillong...got m all nostalgic! let me know if am wrong :)
dwarak's picture

Farmaan is rocking...waiting for the national release...all the very best rockstars
Raktim's picture

Are the persons writing comments friends of the band? How can anyone praise such a mess of singing and a video which looks so funny and out of place? Boys, please stick to your engineering. Sngfor yourselves and not for us. Thank you.
Mona's picture

@Raktim this video looks funny? what about the rest of the typical assamese video's huh?those seem to be upto the level of those directed by Sophie Mullers and Joseph Kahns for you, ain't it? I am not saying this is a very good video. atleast these guys worked hard to do something different? And being newcomers they did a gud job from the point of view of the Assamese industry.
debahuti bora's picture

neil pinky ba here u r great man i didnt know u r in a band farmaan wit such a good voice keep going we r in need of such talent. my support n best wishes r always wit u. "BEST OF LUCK FARMAAN".

Pages

Add new comment

Other Contents by Author

Indira Goswami (b. 1942, Guwahati, Assam) is an outstanding writer who reveals the lived experience of ordinary people. Her powerful graphic descriptions and haunting images bring to light the centrality of the body in human affairs and the codification of political, religious and cultural systems through the body: the bodily processes of life, the impact of gender and age, and the physicality of poverty, norms and conflicts. Writing in her Assamese mother-tongue, Goswami highlights the diverse cultural context of this remote region. She depicts contemporary political and social dimensions, avoiding romanticism and anthropological tendencies. Her intimate knowledge of community...
In a tragic incident that sent shockwave across the state, the students met a watery grave in the Brahmaputra river on Wednesday while they were taking a bath in Sukreswar Ghat in Guwahati. Two of them were students from the Cotton Collegiate School while the third one is yet to be identified. The bodies have not been recovered so far.All the three persons who were going to bath at the Sukreswar Ghat but could not come back. The strong waves of the mighty river have washed them away. Two of them are Cotton Collegiate School students while the details of the third one have not been received. The student duo have been identified as Labajit Sarma of Narikolbasti and Jyoti Kalita of Noonmati...
A devastating fire that broke out in Dispur has reduced to ashes a part of the Janata Bhawan on Wednesday evening.According to information, the fire broke out at around 6 in the evening from a room and later it was dispersing rapidly to other rooms before taking a ravaging turn. As many as fifty fire tenders have been called to extinguish the fire but by then the the situation was going out of control.According to RTI commissioner Dr B K Gohain, the Right to Information cell has been completely ravged n not even as file has been spared.Moreover, the chambers of Nurjamal Sarkar, law minister Pranab Gogoi, parliament secretries Sarat Saikia, Bidya Singfh Inglng have been reduced to ashes in...
Four Asom Gana Parishad MPs have asked prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh to quit alleging discrimination towards Assam.Addressing a press conference in the city on Wednesday, they said Dr Singh who downplays Assam flood situation has no moral right to represent the state in the Rajya Sabha.Kumar Deepak Das said, a Prime Minister of India should look into all states alike. But it’s unfortunate that Dr Manmohan Singh has been failing in this regard.”The MPs alleged that Dr Singh is showing discriminatory attitude towards Assam and its people. But irony is that he represents this very state in the upper House.“As a Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has been failing to deliver...
The proposed site for erecting a statue of Rup Konwar Jyoti Prasad Agarwalla being used by illegal settlers at Bharulumukh, in Guwahati as seen on 10/09/2008 as no steps has been taken for years now. Photo: UB Photos
Cutting across party barriers Congress, BJP and AGP had refused to respond to the Speaker's appeal unless the collected fund was divided between Assam and Bihar.Congress MP from Assam Kirip Chaliha will not pay any money for flood relief in Bihar. Addressing a press conference in Guwahati on Monday, Chaliha said he is ready to urge both Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee and Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari to issue an appeal to help Assam flood victims in the same line.Chaliha said, “the Assam MPs are unhappy over the fact that Mr Chatterjee has issued an appeal only for Bihar when similar destruction has taken place in Assam also.”.The MP from Guwahati made it clear that he...
The Gauhati High Court has served notices to education and home departments for failing to probe the allegations of fund embezzlement by an employment of Cachar education department.According to allegation, an employee of the Cachar district education department Subhas Ranjan Majumdar has embezzled an amount of Rs 5,45,333 meant for LTC.It took place in between 1997 to 2001. Further, he has embezzled yet another amount of Rs 23, 24,744 meant for purchase of food for the school children. Acting on these allegations, police registered a case bearing No 231/02 against Majumdar. The anti corruption wing of the Assam police registered a separate case No 4/05. But nothing came out. This has...
The Assam state unit of the CPI has demanded a Rs 1,000 crore fund from the Centre to relief and rehabilitate the state’s flood affected people.Addressing a press conference on Monday, the leaders of the party further have Centre’s intervention for finalization of the master plan to tame the flood and erosion by the river Brahmaputra. CPI leader and MLA Drupad Buragohain said Assam has been deprived of funds required to tide over the flood fury where lakhs of people have been rendered homeless, a vast area of cropland has been damaged and properties worth crores of rupees have been ravaged. The Left leaders in the state further slammed Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh saying...
The over all flood scenario in Assam remains unchanged during the last 15 hours. On Monday morning the water levels of the mighty Brahmaputra showed a receding trend but it did not last long. With a heavy downpour lashing the state on Monday night, the situation again took a grim turn. The Assam government has admitted that the current wave of flood fury is alarming. Lakhs of those marooned in the perennial fury have yet to leave the make-shift camps in the affected areas.According to information, more than 13 lakh people have been reeling under the current flood wave. These include 2,41,884 in Lakhimpur, 16,4,800 in Sonitpur, 25,624 in Dhemaji, 3,44,021 in Morigaon and 61,150 in Dhubri...
Today is September 8, 2008. Assam is celebrating the 83rd birth day of music legendary music maestro Dr Bhupen Hazarika albeit the birthday boy is in Mumbai. Birthday wishes are pouring in for the pride of Assam and Dada Saheb Phalke award winning singer. Several organization on Monday are celebrating the day across the state.A special screening of a documentary film on the life and works of, produced by Surjya Hazarika was held at the auditorium of the Assam Handloom and Textiles department office on Sunday. The documentary film titled Bihangam Drishtit Dr Bhupen Hazarika throws light on the life and works of the Phalke awardee.Many eventful moments of Dr Hazarika’s life have been...