Vayu Rock Concert

This Saturday, the country's best rock act is hitting town. And you really should ascertain that for yourself.

Royal Challenge, as part of the Royal Hyderabad Music Festival, is organising a rock concert by India's leading rock-band, Vayu, on 4th November, at 99 Megahertz.

Vayu was formed in 1997 by Ravi Iyer. It is strongly influenced by Deep Purple, Rainbow, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and Rush amongst other legendary bands of yesteryears. VAYU plays varied forms of music like fusion, rock, jazz, blues and even a bit of grunge/alternative. Manned by 4 dexterous musicians, the band acquired a huge fan following with regular performances in the Bombay/Pune club circuit, and in a short span of period, has catapulted to being India's numero uno.

The architects of this highly-successful band:

Ravi Ramaswami Iyer on the guitar, also the founder of the band, acquired precision through years of obsessive practice under the able guidance of guitar tutors like Bismark, Christopher Rodiques and John Timothy.

2Blue, a k a Tirthankar Poddar, on the lead vocals, is a pony-tailed BE/MBA, Project Manager at an MNC by day and a hair-whipping/amplifier-shattering monster by night. 2Blue forayed into the Mumbai rock circuit in 2002, when he joined the now-defunct neo-classical outfit Hidden Fifth. Having gained notoriety for his powerful high-pitched singing and on-stage charisma, he was soon invited to front Vayu in early 2003.

Schubert Cuthbert Pierre D'Souza, director of a heavy electrical goods manufacturing firm by day and a bass 'n' keys player by night, enrolled as the band's full-time bass/keyboard player in 1997.

Aatur Soni, the young drummer, trained under Pandit Kiran Vyas and Pandit Pandharinath Nageshkar with the tabla and guided himself to becoming one of the most accomplished drummers of the country. His musical odyssey began in Bollywood, when he was just 13 years of age. He belted out beats for some of the most distinguished names in the Indian music industry