Carrot, Potato, Beans, White Pumpkin, Peas, Egg Plant, Coconut, Green Chillies, Red Chillies, Cumin Seeds, Tamarind Paste, Salt, Yoghurt and Curry Leaves combine to create this tangy dish relished by the people of Kerala. Off late a newer version of this all time classic dish has emerged and people seem to love the taste. This one however is for the ears and the sound is provided by the association of Tony John, Rex Vijayan, Mithun Puthanveetil and Binny John. Together, they are best known as Avial.
Avial
“We sing in Malayalam so we never felt the need to have a name that was English, so to speak” says Rex Vijayan who handles guitar playing duties for the band. “Still a lot of people who aren’t from Kerala thought Avial is not a very Malayali sounding name. Even when we go abroad, people always want to know what it means as it sounds very global” he says. Within Kerala the idea that a much cherished eatable was going on to represent a band didn’t go down too well at least initially. “Our friends were questioning our seriousness of it all. To them Avial seemed like a fun name and we are pretty easy going people so they felt we were simply carrying that image forward with the band.”
Avial catapulted to fame across the country after their first single Nada Nada was released in 2003. They also shot a music video for the song and it was released by SS Music. The tremendous responses they received to the song egged them to go further and continue in the same vein. “The fact that we sang in Malayalam is what helped us get that success initially, and those who do not understand the lyrics look upon the vocals as another instrument that accompanies the song” says vocalist Tony John. The guys within the band knew each other even before they came together to form Avial and Rex reckons that it was natural that they sing in their mother tongue. “There was never a plan to sing in Malayalam before but whenever we met even just to jam and chill out, we used to sing old Malayalam songs. Also we like how poetic it sounds, very unique for someone who hasn’t heard it before.”
Avial - In Performance
Their conviction to continue to sing in a language that cannot be understood by majority in the country has only strengthened as the years have gone by. At a time when most Indian bands are trying to ape their western counterparts, bands like Avial strongly feel the need to get back to their ethnic roots. “I listen to Italian, Brazilian or any other kind of music that sounds good. A song like Macarena for example finds a connection because, end of the day it is the music that matters” says Tony. Avial’s faith in the local language seems to be well placed and one wonders if it offers any guarantee of success when compared to the English speaking fraternity. “I can only say that it’s best to do what comes naturally to you. For us it happens to be our mother tongue and there are bands who are really big in India today and have made it through singing in English” says Rex.
Avial do not write the lyrics for their songs. They like to borrow folk songs from the past or in what can be described as a first for a band, have specialists who write raw, folk sounding lyrics around which the band weaves its tunes. This rather uncommon method is preceded by the band members helping their writers out with a theme and even pictures to help them grasp the vision that the band has for a song. “These people are mostly our friends and they happen to be very good at writing these songs. When you come to think of it, Folk music and Rock music have this very raw feel to them, which is why we feel that it is good to combine both. Also we are particular about how the lyrics sound to the ears when sung, and the people who work with the lyrics have a very good understanding of these requirements which makes it good for us” informs Rex. Most of Avial’s songs are reality based and are related to the political and social happenings within the country.
Avial
Avial released their first self titled album in 2008, four years post coming together. This was an extraordinarily long time by any standards and their second album is still in the making as we are made aware by Tony John while he speaks on the subject. “The thing is, we are all very lazy people by nature! (A fact which was also corroborated by Rex) We don’t go in with an intention to produce a song, it is all very instinctive. If you ask me how much of the second album is made, I would say probably up to thirty percent of it has been put together in some shape or form!” he says. Going by that it would possibly be easier to estimate the delay rather than the arrival, not until mid 2012 would be our guess. “We normally jam and then have a tune and the grooves in place” says Rex. “But, when you get back to these things after a few weeks, they may not sound as appealing as they did when you came up with it. So in order to move ahead, the music that we do must surprise us.” Tony’s house serves as the unofficial ‘headquarters’ of the band and the band normally prefers to hang out doing nothing too productive on most days. “Most of the stuff we do, we keep changing it and then finally get tired and delete it!” he says. One glance upon their Facebook page, or the comments on a video suggest that the pressure to release a second album is steadily building but they remain determined to do it their way.
Prior to the release of their very first album, they were a five member band. The powerful, booming and raspy vocals heard on most of their first album (except two songs which had Tony’s vocals) were sung by former vocalist Anand Raj Benjamin Paul. His departure certainly left many of their fans somewhat discontent. “It was sad. He got married to an American and is now settled in the US. However Rex and I had put a lot of work into the production of the album, we couldn’t have stopped there” says Tony as he reminisces back to the sudden and possibly the only really difficult time of the band’s journey so far. “Post his departure, it was tricky for us because people heard his voice on the album and mine when we played gigs. However I believe that our fans are fiercely loyal and have shown it by sticking with us. Yes there are those who are hardcore fans of Anand’s voice, and they’d miss that element but there isn’t much that can be done about it” Rex feels that not too much needs to be made of the differences as there are some differences which are basic in nature too. “For example Anand looked very rugged himself, and that went along with his vocals too! Tony is more sophisticated when it comes to the stage presence and looks you could say but as a vocalist, though different, I feel that he pretty much nails all of our stuff.”
The latest to come from Avial is a song called Aana Kallan (Aana means elephant in Malayalam and Kallan means a thief, which translates to elephant liar or big liar) as part of the Malayalam movie ‘Salt N Pepper’. The response to this song has been phenomenal in Kerala and there is a feeling of content within the band. “We actually bought a book which had folk lyrics in it and Aana Kallan appealed to us and then a tune was born” says Rex. While Rex was quite happy to lend their music to the movie industry based in Kerala, not everyone in the band shared the same opinion. “I was hesitant at first” says Tony. “I thought it was bullshit to be honest but Aana Kallan related to this character in the movie and we had the song written, it just had to be worked upon before we had the final product ready.” The success of the song has helped them gain a mass appeal within Kerala. While Avial was already popular with the people who followed the scene, it was still a band that was left wanting mainstream recognition. “The man on the street possibly got a taste of Avial the band” says Rex. While this might surprise many who read through this article, there has always been a feeling within the band that they were better known outside of Kerala rather than within their home state. This makes the success of Aana Kallan dearer to them.
Tony John, Rex Vijayan, Mithun Puthanveetil and Binny John
Their popularity outside of Kerala is demonstrated by the sheer numbers of people who can sing along the choruses to their songs which are sung in Malayalam. Also they are one of the very few bands who have managed to perform abroad. “One of the fondest memories I have is of a Mumbai college which was full of Gujarati students singing along to our songs” says Rex. He couldn’t recollect the name, and hence we stick our neck out to say it could have been Narsee Monjee or Mithibai in all likelihood. Aadu Pambe with its monstrous guitar riff and masterful arrangement remains the bands favorite song to play to any crowd. “I really like to see the crowd jumping along to that one” says Tony. “There are other favorites too like Chekele, Karukara, Ettam Pattu, etc.”
As they are about to sign out, we are tempted to ask what they prefer more – the band or the dish? Both Rex and Tony declare their undying love for, take a deep breath – the dish! “We all are big Avial (the dish) fans, so it is unfair that you ask us to choose! In fact you cannot ask this question to any self respecting Malayali!” they say.
Well, we prefer the band too. Nada! Nada! Nada! Nada! Nada!
Article by Vignesh Iyer
Produced by Equinox, it captures the protagonist in the TVC—the girl-child—and her desire to succeed. Quoting them, “It’s a metaphor for the woman, echoing the emerging paradigms with fresh beliefs and a zest for life.”
Lending credibility and her soulful voice to this tribute along with noted playback singer Kavita Seth, is Snithi Mishra, the young girl from Orissa who is also a Sa Re Ga Ma Pa prodigy. The film is directed by one of India’s highly acclaimed ad film-maker, Ram Madhvani while the hummable music is composed by Rajat Dholakia. We may not agree with the packaging of the logo design, but the alongside jazz with this soulful song definitely got us sitting up and taking notice!
