Hard rock goes Hindi

RIO, which claims to be India’s first Hindi hard rock band, will be releasing soon. Read on for more...

The Indian rock music scene continues to evolve and within this prevalent scenario, English rock bands continue to mushroom. However, a Hindi hard rock band is conspicuous by its absence.

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But now, RIO, that claims to be India’s first rock band, having come together in 1988, will launch its debut album,

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, at the Hard Rock Café on Tuesday.

Founded by Vishal Rajan and Vinay Lobo, RIO has chosen to tread a new musical path. “We were clear from the onset that we would create quality music that established an instant connect and is easy to relate to. The most powerful way of communicating was undoubtedly in the language of the common man – Hindi,” says Vishal.

A key feature of RIO’s music is that unlike many Indian bands, they have refrained from using any Indian instruments like the tabla or the sitar. Instead. they have focussed their creative energies on their strengths – dishing out unadulterated hard rock music coupled with Hindi lyrics.

RIO’s official album launch follows the digital release of their album earlier this month through a first-of-its kind tie up with Nokia. The venture ensured that their music was available on the Nokia Music Stores across the country.

Lead guitarist Vinay adds, “It has been an exhilarating ride so far! We hope that a far larger populace embraces our music with the same enthusiasm we displayed while creating this brand new flavour of out and out rock!”