Jun 11, 2013
Susmit Sen, the co-founder and guitarist of India’s most successful rock band, Indian Ocean, has decided to quit after 23 years. Sen, who along with Asheem Chakravarty had founded the iconic band in 1990, will hand over his legacy to a younger guitar player. “Right now, I am at my creative best. Indian Ocean is a sound and style we created. After more than 27 years of playing, I feel that I am brimming with more compositions, more music, but in a grammar and style that is different from Indian Ocean,” Sen said in a statement. “I feel restricted now as I am sure must be the case with the others as well. I strongly believe that my moving on will be beneficial for both Indian Ocean and my creative expression as well,” he added. Sen has already come out with an individual album, “Depths of the Ocean,” where the compositions bear his trademark and have his unique style of guitar playing. He is collaborating with musicians including Anirban Ghosh, Nikhil Vasudevan, Amit Sharma, Sudhir Rikhari, Rajiv Raja and old friend Gyaan Singh and creating music with them as “The Susmit Sen Chronicles.” Young and upcoming guitarist Nikhil Rao will take over the task of carrying forward Sen’s tradition. “Rao is a promising young guitar player with a lot of ‘Indianness’ in his playing. He will be able to give a lot of impetus to Indian Ocean as he will not only add value to concerts, but will also be able to create new music with the band in their signature style,” Sen said. Sen and his close friend Chakravarty had come together to interpret Indian rhythms and melodies at a time when most young independent musicians were attempting to do covers of known international acts. Rahul Ram joined within a year, and his contribution with his unique bass style and fondness for vocals further defined the sound of the band. The Indian Ocean lineup was completed when Amit Kilam, a multi-instrumentalist, joined in the summer of 1994. The four went on to create some timeless music in the albums “Desert Rain,” “Kandisa,” “Jhini,” “Black Friday” and “16/330 Khajoor Road.” Indian Ocean was the first band in India to release a live album and have a documentary made on them. The film “Leaving Home,” directed by Jaideep Varma, won the National Award and is the first-ever indigenously made documentary to have achieved a commercial release in the country. A coffee-table book on Indian Ocean will also be released later in 2013. There will be a multi-city concert tour at the time of the book launch. Sen will perform with the band for the promotion of the book, which will be his farewell tour with Indian Ocean.