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

Altogether 12 DHD(J) cadres died at a fierce fighting with Army in North Cachar early in the morning on Saturday. According to information, Army launched the offensive at the camp at Herelu along the Assam-Manipur border. DHD(J) sources here confirmed that at least 12 cadres have been killed during the heavy exchange of firing. Details are awaited.
An astronomical amount of rupees to the tune of Rs 50 crore has been duped by a few people with some fake banking activities in Upper Assam’s Dhemaji district creating a great deal of confusion and sensation in the entire Dhemaji district. The entire racket came to light last week only when these people working with the bank have secretly fled from the town.According to information, they opened an Union Cooperative Bank (ASCARD) branch in Chandannagar area in Silapathar area in Dhemaji district on April 24, 2004. Since than the bank has been running crore rupee financial dealing with its customers through some agents. Not only that they have also introduced a few insurance police to...
A seminar on the subject titled " Problem and Prospects of Eco-Tourism in Asom," sponsored by the University Grant Commission (UGC), and organized by the Department of Economics Kakojan College is scheduled to be held from October 3 with a two-day-long programme here.The organizing committee invites academicians, research students and NGO etc to participate in the seminar on the sub themes — (a) Eco-Tourism and Employment General Generation. (b) Eco-Tourism designed to improve economic and social well being of local villagers. (c) Environmental impact of Eco-Tourism. (d) Sociocultural impact of Eco-Tourism. e) Eco-Tourism as foreign exchange earning etc.The organizer also...
Seven cadres of 27, 109 and 709 battalions of Banned outfit ULFA have surrendered before the deputy Commissioner (Kamrup) RC Jain and Superintendent of Police Debajit Hazarika at the Office of Deputy Commissioner, Guwahati on 08-05-08. These seven ULFA cadres have submitted ammunitions containing one austrian grenade, one 36 HE grenade, huge number of Electronic detonators and some extortion notes signed by the ULFA. Pix by UB Photos.
A traffic personnel has been seen busy in handling traffic at the Bhangagarh-ASTC Bylane linking traffic point in Guwahati on 06-05-08 evening. Pix by UB photos.
The formal process for unification of regional parties has come in for a mixed bag reactions from several parties and organisations.Speaking to assamtimes, senior Congress leaders have said for Congress they have nothing to be worried as Congress defeated the regional party in the Assambly polls while it was remaining united under Mahanta's leadership and similarly, the regional party down in the last assembly polls while Bindabon Goswami was at the helm of affairs.Meanwhile, the All Assam Students Union (AASU) has made it clear that they will not change their earlier stand i.e they are not averse to unification mood only if it sans former Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta whom they...
After days of hectic political confabulations, regionalism in Assam is back with a renewed strength and vigour. The entire development came up from 11 in the morning at the Ambari based AGP party headquarters. The main Opposition AGP’s unification committee on Monday hold a series of brainstorming sessions categorically with four of its breakaway groups to finalise the formalities for unification.First to step into the AGP headquarters on Monday was its founder president Prafulla Kumar Mahanta and his chief acolytes Gunin Hazarika, Ganesh Kutum et al who held talk with the unification panel president and AGP vice president Phani Bhusan Chaudhory.Coming out of the meeting the former...
Ten people died, twenty others have been injured when the bus carrying a marriage party collided its head on a stranded truck at Harmoti area in Assam’s Sonitpur district early on Sunday midnight.According to information, the bus bearing No AS07B1335 having as many as 60 passengers was on its way to Naiboisa after the marriage function suddenly hit a truck bearing nO AS122517 which was remaining stranded. Ten people reportedly died on the spot while 38 other people have been left injured. All of these injured people have been rushed to hospital while 22 people have been battling with life at hospital. Six bodies have so far been identified namely Biren Biswas, Pinku Biswas, Tutumoni...
The unification of Assam’s regional parties have reached a crucial stage with the Asom Gana Parishad is hunkering down with three of its breakaway groups at its party headquarters on Monday. The first one breakaway to have formally kickstart the homecoming bid is former Chief Minister and theparty’s founder president Prafulla Kumar Mahanta at around 11-30 in the morning. After the “cordial” discussion, Mahanta left the office with a hope that the unification will be a giant leap towards ending the rule of Congress. This was followed by the coming of Trinamool Gana Parishad general secretary and the AGP’s never-say die-spirit and former minister Atul Bora. He...
Russia has evinced its keen interest to invest in Assam's oil and gas, tourism, power and infrastructure sectors. This was disclosed by Ambassador Vyacheslav Trubnikov on Sunday while he was meeting Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi in Dispur.The Russian Ambassador said his country was keen to partner the state and invest in the overall development of the North Eastern states saying the environment in Assam conducive and investor friendly. He said the threat perception in the north eastern region, as made out by some media reports, is some how not correct.He termed the situation safer than Mumbai adding that under the directive of President Vladimir Putin that they have been rushed to Assam...