- Insomnia (band)
-
Insomnia 
The mark of sleeplessnessBackground information Origin Kolkata, West Bengal, India Genres Alternative, nu age, progressive rock, Bangla rock Years active 2002-present Labels Independent, Asha Audio, HMV, saregama Members Sayantan Neogi (Ninnai), Rajarshi Barman (Dodo), Souvik Gupta (Savvy), Subhodip Banerjee (Subho), Prasenjit Chakrabutty (Pom), Rohit Nandi (Rohit), Manager - Rahul Mehra (Paiya) Past members Subhajit Roy Chowdhury (Subho), Bodhisattwa Ghosh (Bodhi), Sudipto Banerjee (Buti), Dipanjan Mukherjee (Ebu), Santanu Das Roy (Tito), Ayan Dasgupta (Boom), Sougata Basu (Papa) Insomnia (Bengali: ইনসমনিয়া) is a rock band based in Kolkata,[1] West Bengal. The band's repertoire includes both English and Bangla songs. The band has an album each in English (Cry of the Spirit - self released) and Bangla (Proloyer Shomoye - Asha Audio).[2][3][4] Insomnia is a rock band from Eastern India with bilingual repertoire. Insomnia are also quite adept at executing live music for theatre, being part of the act itself, in plays such as Peacewards[5] (directed by Jayant Kripalani, produced by Red Curtain Productions, based on monologues written by Manjula Padmanabhan), a 3rd theatre version of Rokto Korobi[6] (written by Rabindranath Tagore, conceptualised by Badal Sarkar, directed by Parnab Mukherjee, starring Sudipta Chakraborty) and numerous other plays. "Opekkha" from their Bangla album Proloyer Shomoye was part of the original soundtrack of the first Bangla sex comedy movie Aamra[7][8] (produced by Venkatesh fims, directed by Mainak Bhaumik, cast - Parambrata Chatterjee, Jishu Sengupta, Rudranil Ghosh, Nilanjana, Ananya Chatterjee, Kaushik Ghosh, Rajatava Datta, Momo).
Insomnia plays every week at Someplace Else,[9] The Park Friday midnights. The band has a following at the emerging Princeton Club Kolkata Princeton Club, as well.
Contents
Discography
Cry of the Spirit 
Studio album by Insomnia Released September 2004 (India) Recorded September 2003-October 2003 Genre Progressive rock, psychedelic rock Label Independent Label Producer Sumit Ray Year of release Title Label Language 2004 Cry of the Spirit Independent Label English 2006 Proloyer Shomoye Asha Audio Bengali 2008 Parallel Universe (The Underground - Kolkata) HMV saregama English 2012 Untitled Asha Audio Bengali Cry of the Spirit
Cry of the Spirit' was the debut album of Insomnia. The album showed the original sound of Insomnia which shifted heavily later on after moving to Bengali language abandoning English.
Insomnia recorded their debut album titled Cry of the Spirit at Studio Vibrations, Kolkata between September and October 2003. As the name suggests, the album is about a human being's loneliness of the soul. Musically,the album is loosely based on experimental Classic Rock, amalgamated with Post-modern synthesizers. Mixed at Studio Vibrations and produced by brand developer Sumit Roy, the album was released in September 2004 at Someplace Else,The Park and is on private circulation.[10]
Proloyer Shomoye
Proloyer Shomoye Studio album by Insomnia Released September 2006 (India) Recorded September 2003-October 2003 Genre Progressive rock, psychedelic rock Label Asha Audio Producer Jojo, Potla Proloyer Shomoye is the second full-length studio album by, Insomnia, and their first Bangla album. It was recorded at Dream Digital Inc., Kolkata between May and August 2006. Proloyer Shomoye is a reflected contemporary times that we live in, the times of turbulence. With this album, Insomnia radically changed their sonic direction to New Age Alternative. Mixed at Dream Digital Inc. and mastered at Edensound Mastering, Melbourne, the album was launched in September 2006 at Octane, Gariahat Mall under the banner of Asha Audio.[10]
2012 album release
The band is currently working on original material at keyboardist savvy's studio dB junction, which sources say could well be a double album. In an interview with Calcutta Times, vocalist ninnai had mentioned more topical content and a more honest experimental sound. Anupam Roy, Sidhu and Santhanam Srinivasan Iyer are rumoured to be associated with the album.
The Band's journey
Insomnia plugged in for the first time in 1999 as the South Point High School band.[11] After numerous line up changes the new recruits were all from different schools: Sayantan Neogi (Ninnai) - La Martiniere for boys, Kolkata; Prasenjit Chakrabutty (Pom) - Don Bosco Park Circus; and Souvik Gupta (Savvy) - Nava Nalanda High School. Therefore, unlike popular belief, Insomnia is not an SPHS band even though it started out as one.
Insomnia's first show as a professional outfit was on 7 July 2002 in Music World, Park Street. The band has gone through many potentially crippling line-up changes. However against all odds they stuck on and the current line up has been active since the middle of 2005.
Noteworthy performances by the band:
- Insomnia were Eastern Zonal Winners and All – India 2nd Runners up at Castrol Garage Rock, 2003 held in Mumbai
- Insomnia were Finalists at the All – India Rock band competition at Springfest 2003, IIT Kharagpur
- Insomnia have rocked crowds in schools and colleges on the following occasions:
- R G Kar Medical College, Freshers’ welcome, 2003
- South Point High School, Melting Point, 2004
- Pailan Institute of Management, Freshers’ welcome, 2004
- Calcutta Medical College, Annual Fest, 2004
- Jadavpur University, Electrical Engineering, Freshers’ welcome, 2004
- Jadavpur University, Civil Engineering, Freshers’ welcome, 2004
- District Interact Council, Annual Fest, 2004
- St. Xavier's College Kolkata, Xavotsav 2004
- District Rotaract Council, Annual Fest, 2005
- Dr. B. C. Roy Engineering College, Durgapur, Annual Fest, 2005
- Meghnath Saha Institute Of Technology 2005
- Jadavpur University, Arts Faculty, Sanskriti 2006
- St. Xavier's College Kolkata, Xavotsav 2007
- Institute of Technology & Marine Engineering, Impulse 2007
- Gupta College of Technology & Science, Asansol, Panacea 2007
- JIS College of Engineering, Kalyani, Annual Fest 2007
- Jadavpur University, Arts Faculty, Sanskriti 2007
- Gyan Ghosh Memmorial College, Annual Fest 2007
- Heritage Institute of Technology, Eclecia 2007
- Calcutta Medical College, Annual Fest 2007
- Bankura Sammilani Medical College, Synapse 2007
- St. Stephen's School, Dum Dum, Reunion 2007
- Kalyani Govt. College of Engineering, Annual Fest 2007
- Bethune College, Annual Fest 2007
- South Point Reunion 2008
- West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS), Outlawed 2008
- Techno India Hooghly, Chinsura, Verbena 2008
- Sikkim Manipal University, Ballygunge Phari, Kolkata, Live Wire 2008
- Dinabandhu Andrews Institute of Technology & Management, Razzmatazz 2008
- St. Thomas' College of Engineering and Technology, Atria 2008
- Government College of Engineering & Ceramic Technology, Jagriti 2008
- Carmel Convent School, Jamshedpur, 10th Anniversary Celebrations, 2008
- Ramakrishna Mission Shilpapeeth Belghoria, Boreas 2008
- Saroj Mohan Institute of Technology, Guptipara, Annual Fest 2008
- Calcutta Boys School, Annual Fest 2008
- Carmel High School, Kolkata, Annual Fest 2008
- Pailan Institute of Engineering, Annual Fest 2008
- Shri Shikshayatan College, Srijan 2008
- South Point High School, Annual Fest 2008
- Army Institute of Management, Kolkata, Inferno 2009(Annual Fest)
- Techno India Hooghly, Chinsura, Verbena 2009
- Hooghly Engineering and Technology College,Festinobeats 2010
- Insomnia organised the concert, Reach Out and played in it along with the leading English bands of Calcutta. The concert also featured Usha Uthup, Amyt Datta and Nandan Bagchi and raised funds for the children of Reach.
- In 2003, Insomnia featured in Peacewards, a Red Curtain productions play based on monologues by Manjula Padmanabhan. The play was directed by Jayant Kripalani and saw the band live on stage doing a musical narration
- In 2003 again, Insomnia soundscaped a third theatre version of Rabindranath Tagore's play, Rakta Karabi, which was directed by Parnab Mukherjee and featured actress Sudipta Chakraborty. In 2004, under the same director, Insomnia soundscaped third theatre versions of Shakespeare's Measure for Measure and King Lear
- In November 2004, Insomnia became the first band in the city to have an unplugged concert in the bag. It was held at Caffeine, Elgin Road
- In April 2005, Insomnia performed along with Fossils, Aasma and Neha Bhasin in aid of the Tsunami victims in the ‘One World’ concert held at La Martiniere for boys grounds
- In November 2005, Insomnia went to Thimpu, Bhutan and performed at the country's premier night club, Space 34
- In January 2006, Insomnia launched themselves in the Bangla Rock circuit at ‘Republic Rock’ along with acts from Bangladesh such as Warfaze, Artcell, Metalmaze, ArboVirus and acts from West Bengal such as Lakkhichara, Cactus and Fossils
- In December 2007, Insomnia put up a concert as part of the centenary celebration of TATA steel in Jamshedpur in the coveted XLRI auditorium.
- In January 2008, Insomnia was part of the historic Mohiner Ghoraguli tribute concert (organized by Ranjon Ghoshal), 'Abar Bochhor Tirish Pore', which had a complete Philharmonic Orchestra (Conducted by Abraham Mazumder) playing. The Concert was held at the big lawn, Nicco Park and had a turnout of about 30,000 people.[12]
- In January 2009, Insomnia raised funds for leukemia patient, 3 year old Aarav Seal along with Cactus and Bickram Ghosh. The concert was an initiative by Red FM, Power FM and Aamar FM.
See also
- Bangla Rock
- Mohiner Ghoraguli
- Cactus (Indian band)
- Lakkhichhara
- Bhoomi (band)
- Chandrabindoo
- Fossils
- Cassini's Division
- Underground Authority
References
- ^ Ghoshal, Shounak (2008-01-04). "Get Set Rock!". The Times of India. http://www.kolkatamirror.com/index.aspx?page=article§id=20&contentid=20080104200801041800219211a63280d§xslt=.
- ^ "New music mantra". The Telegraph (Calcutta). 2006-04-06. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1060608/asp/calcutta/story_6322744.asp.
- ^ Chatterjee, Chandreyee (2006-10-30). "Band of boys". The Telegraph (Calcutta). http://www.telegraphindia.com/1061030/asp/calcutta/story_6826243.asp. Retrieved 2007-11-03.
- ^ Prasanna (2006-10-08). "Prasanna's blog". Cprasannas.blogspot.com. http://cprasannas.blogspot.com/2006/10/insomnia-proloyer-somoye-and-what-do-i.html. Retrieved 2011-08-04.
- ^ "Peacewards". Peaceworks. http://www.seagullindia.com/peace/activities.html. Retrieved 2007-11-03.[dead link]
- ^ "Parnab Mukherjee". Laboratory for Enthusiastic Collaboration Company Bios. Laboratory for Enthusiastic Collaboration. http://www.l4ec.org/bios/. Retrieved 2007-11-03.
- ^ Mitra, Mandira (2006-10-29). "Hip posturing". The Telegraph (Calcutta). http://www.telegraphindia.com/1061229/asp/etc/story_7193940.asp. Retrieved 2007-11-03.
- ^ "Tollywood top draws 2006". The Telegraph (Calcutta). 2006-10-31. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1061231/asp/calcutta/story_7204391.asp. Retrieved 2007-11-03.
- ^ Rohit Nyss. "Rohit Nyss' blog". Turquoisechill.blogspot.com. http://turquoisechill.blogspot.com/2007_12_09_archive.html. Retrieved 2011-08-04.
- ^ a b [1][dead link]
- ^ Priyo fother mucker. "Shattered Nostalgia". http://shapeurlife.blogspot.com/2007/05/insomnia-true-south-pointers.html. Retrieved 2011-08-04.
- ^ "Santo meets Zimmerman". Blog for Mohiner Ghorahuli. http://santosmeetszimmerman.blogspot.com/2008/01/these-days.html.
External links
Videos
- Aartonaad - Proloyer Shomoye (2006)
- Insomnia - Live at ITME (2007)
- Insomnia - Live at Sanskriti, Jadavpur University (2007)
- Insomnia - Covering 'Tomay Dilam' (2007)
- Insomnia - Covering 'Bangali' (2007)
- 'Opekkha', an impression by Iman Sen, Calcutta Blues (2007)
- Opekkha - Proloyer Shomoye (2007)
Bengali Bands Kolkata (India) Bhoomi · Cactus · Chandrabindoo · Hip Pocket · Moheener Ghoraguli · Prithibi · Krosswindz · Fossils · Lakkhichhara · Insomnia · Underground Authority · Cassini's Division · Skinny Alley · Pinknoise · Five Little Indians · Chronic Xorn · PseudonymDhaka (Bangladesh) Categories:- Bengali music
- Indian rock
- Bengali musicians
- Kolkata culture
- Indian musical groups
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