Girls get loud on music

Gone are the days when boys used to rule the rock music scene. Now, girls have taken charge. And, all-girl bands are not about pretty faces, echo several talented female musicians, who are carving a niche for themselves while battling prejudices and regressive social norms.

Gone are the days when boys used to rule the rock music scene. Now, girls have taken charge. And, all-girl bands are not about pretty faces, echo several talented female musicians, who are carving a niche for themselves while battling prejudices and regressive social norms.

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From forming bands to handling all kinds of musical equipments, they are proving that music is not just a man’s passion. “Initially, we were not taken seriously because all our members are girls,” says Cheyyrian Bark, lead vocalist of The Vinyl Records, an all-girl band from the Northeast, now based in Delhi. “Music bands are usually made up of male members. It was only after a couple of performances that we got noticed. It was so because we were as serious about playing our music as any other rock band across the country,” she adds.

All-girl bands mostly emerge in colleges and universities, but their big dreams have to bite the dust when they clash with the age-old ideologies of the society. A case in point is Kashmir-based all-girl band Pragaash, which was banned from performing some time back. However, there are others such as Colour Chaos, The Vinyl Records and Tritha, who are keeping the hopes of other female musicians alive with their success.

The music fraternity is all for the rise of all-girl bands. “As an artist and as a band, we do feel that there are very few all-girl bands in India. Our rock fraternity lacks all-girl bands. I really feel that girls should come forward and play music. It would be nice if we get good all-girl bands and they should become our colleagues,” says Salman Khan, lead vocalist of Delhi-based band Astitva.