Known for performing Telugu film songs with a fusion style, Hyderabad-based band Jammers first started performing at night clubs last year and has since completed 150 gigs at various clubs in the city. Apart from doing cover songs, they are also known for their recreations of Carnatic compositions like Raghuvamsha Sudha, Brahmamokkate and Paluke Bangaara-maayena, which makes them unique.
Talking about the inception of the band, lead guitarist Chinna Swamy says, “Three of us —Krishna Tejesvi, Naren and Shasank — met at the Vasavi College of Engineering and performed at CBIT’s annual college fest ‘Shruthi’ in 2016 and 2017. I joined the trio for the first official gig of the Jammers last year.”
He adds, “We started off as a four-piece band and gave a demo at a popular pub, where we now perform regularly. After our bass guitarist Jagadish joined us, we turned into a five-piece band.” Not only have the Jammers gained enormous popularity among Telugu speaking people across the globe in a very short span of time, they have also performed in front of many legends and stars from Tollywood.
“In our brief journey of a year and a half, we got to perform for Chiranjeevi, S.S. Rajamouli, Pawan Kalyan, Nagarjuna, Venkatesh, Balakrishna, Ram Charan and Allu Arjun among others. It’s a great sign that the Telugu film industry is encouraging bands like us,” says Chinna, announcing that their first ever single, called Lost in Trance: Paluke Bangaaramaayena recently released on their YouTube channel. A regional band which performs mostly Telugu film music, Jammers have been inspired by the works of AR Rahman and Ilayaraja. “As a band, each of us has different influences and inspirations. When we started off, we were inspired by Bengaluru-based band Agam and wanted to create Carnatic fusion. Our first single Lost in Trance started with that idea. We are also working on a couple of other singles in the same genre,” states the lead guitarist.
With so many new bands coming up by the day, how do they view the competition? “It’s been a good run so far. People in Hyderabad enjoy regional music too, and we’re happy to have an audience,” says Chinna Swamy, who adds, “But eventually, we are looking forward to composing our originals. Right now, our specialty is to add our touch to existing film songs in some way or the other. For example, we add a verse of the famous Tyagaraaya kriti Raghuvamsa Sudha to Chiranjeevi’s song Yamaha Nagari because both the songs are in the same scale and the blend sounds so smooth and effortless. The audience enjoys such transitions and waits for more. Therein lies our USP,” he explains.
