Soul & Faith :: Why the North-East Keeps Rockin!!!!

Here's some Dope on two of the best bands from the North-East. Trust me Guys, these folks are folks are pros. My Region may be called behind the times and stuff, but when it come to music, we know what we're talkin about. Its like in our blood or somethin. Anyways, Read on ::

SOULMATE:

Lineup::
Rudy Wallang - Guitar
Tipriti "Tips" Kharbangar- Vocals/guitar
Session Players

Inspired by the roots and groove sounds of the Blues, Blues-rock, Soul, Rock ‘n’ Roll, Funk and R&B, SOULMATE came together in Shillong, in February 2003 playing their first concert at the ‘Roots’ Festival at the Water Sports Complex in Umiam. Since then the band has performed many concerts all over The Northeast as well as in different parts of India.They have also performed at the International Jazzmandu Festival in Kathmandu for two consecutive years..2004 and 2005.
Anyone with an interest in the western music scene in India, will recognize singer/songwriter Rudy Wallang, who leads this tight knit musical unit. Born into music, he grew up listening to his father Toto Wallang making music and himself started singing and playing the ukulele at a very tender age eventually graduating to the guitar. Today, Rudy is one of the foremost singer / songwriter / blues guitar players in the country with a long musical history having been part of the well known blues rock acts, Great Society & Mojo.
Vocalist and rythmn guitarist of SOULMATE is Tipriti Kharbangar who has earned a name as one of the finest female performers to have emerged out of Shillong. If there is one thing Tipriti is happy doing it is singing and reflecting this, she vocalizes with a joy and exuberance that is unmatched and original. She started out singing gospel songs at the local church choir and is now drawn to the Blues, Soul, Jazz and likes and listens to Aretha Franklin, Billy Holliday, Etta James, Nina Simone and B.B.King. SOULMATE also hires the services of different session musicians like Manas Chowdhury(Bass),Sam Shullai(Drums),Ferdy Dkhar(BAss) and Sean Morehead(Drums). VH1 recently aired their first Video (about six months back, didnt get much airplay though). They've also released their first album aptly titled, SHILLONG.

FAITH:
Lineup::
Deepu - bass/vocals
joshua - vocals
tarik - guitars
krishna - guitars
pom pom - drums
raja - keyboards

Here goes the Story …. Dec 2002 …. For the first time a band from Assam called PSYX which was rising to great heights in the North East in a very short period of time, went to Mumbai and turned finalists at the IIT Mumbai Rock Competition “Livewire” and pretty much stamped it’s mark in the city when they covered 3 Megadeth Numbers and a well received self composition. Unfortunately, fate played a big part and due to the lead guitarist’s string snapping in the first Satch number itself, they were disqualified from the competition as they could not make it within the allotted time slot, but what happened was that they won the heart of the crowd. However, just after that show the first guitarist Bijit had to quit due to personal reasons which was a setback at the time as he was integral to the band and was handling vocals as well. However, egged on by the success of the event and hence , growing in self confidence, Deepak (better and affectionately known as Deepu) the bass guitarist the soul centre knew that great things were bound to happen if he could just rekindle the fire and keep it burning. Hence “FAITH” was formed in Aug 2003 where a select few budding and fine musicians were carefully assembled and rose as a family with great confidence. The new line-up of Faith came to prominence when they bagged the FIRST RUNNERS UP AWARD at rock-o-phonics, the rock contest at IIT Guwahati on jan 2005,along with THE BEST VOCALIST,BEST DRUMMER (his 2nd ),BEST ORGINALCOMPOSITION award The current lineup consists of members of various other bands who got together for the love of music and followed it up with a driven passion. All band members are extremely open to all forms of music and are secure in the knowledge that they give every ounce into what they do. Famous in the North-East already, they signed up for the great “CAMPUS ROCK IDOLS 2005” competition and became all India runners-up (out of 220 bands across the country). FAITH would not stop at that and there is no reason that they should either with a name like that. The greatest achievement was winning the “XXI Independence Rock competition” at Mumbai on 26th August 2006, where they became the rage with a huge gathering of rock fans. Their Classic Rock set was mesmerizing to say the least and their self compositions were amazing with outstanding vocals, bass and guitar work …. So for Faith …this is not the end of the journey, but the kick start to even greater things to come. They are also about to release their first Assamese Rock album shortly and their fans can hardly wait.

The Fifth Mountain :: Paulo Coelho

Just a few lines i liked from Paulo Coelho's The Fifth Mountain. Damn good book BTW. Must read if you liked The Alchemist ::

1) When you want something with all your heart, the entire universe conspires to help you acheive it.

2) Merely be attentive to what happens in your life, and you will discover where, every moment of the day, he hides his words & his will. Seek to do as he asks; this alone is the reason you are in the world.

3) Often good is disguised as evil, but it goes on being the good & is part of the plan that he created for humanity.

4) A warrior is always aware of what is worth fighting for. He does not go into combat over things that do not concern him, and he never wastes time over provocations.
A warrior accepts defeat. He doesnt treat it as a matter of indiffernce nor does he attempt to transform it into a victory. The pain of defeat is bitter to him. He suffers at indifference and becomes desperate with loneliness. After all this has passed, he licks his wounds and begins everything anew. A warrior knows that war is made of many battles; he goes on. Tragedies do happen. We can discover the reason, blame others, imagine how different our lives would be had they not occured. But none of that is important, they did not occur, & so be it. From their onward we must put aside the fear that they awoke in us & begin to re-build.

100 Greatest Guitarists

Its a list i got from the August 2003 issue of Rolling Stone. Check it out:

1Jimi Hendrix
2 Duane Allman of the Allman Brothers Band
3 B.B. King
4 Eric Clapton
5 Robert Johnson
6 Chuck Berry
7 Stevie Ray Vaughan
8 Ry Cooder
9 Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin
10 Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones
11Kirk Hammett of Metallica
12 Kurt Cobain of Nirvana
13 Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead
14 Jeff Beck
15 Carlos Santana
16 Johnny Ramone of the Ramones
17 Jack White of the White Stripes
18 John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers
19 Richard Thompson
20 James Burton
21 George Harrison
22 Mike Bloomfield
23 Warren Haynes
24 The Edge of U2
25 Freddy King
26 Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave
27 Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits
28 Stephen Stills
29 Ron Asheton of the Stooges
30 Buddy Guy
31 Dick Dale
32 John Cipollina of Quicksilver Messenger Service
33 & 34 Lee Ranaldo, Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth
35 John Fahey
36 Steve Cropper of Booker T. and the MG's
37 Bo Diddley
38 Peter Green of Fleetwood Mac
39 Brian May of Queen
40 John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival
41 Clarence White of the Byrds
42 Robert Fripp of King Crimson
43 Eddie Hazel of Funkadelic
44 Scotty Moore
45 Frank Zappa
46 Les Paul
47 T-Bone Walker
48 Joe Perry of Aerosmith
49 John McLaughlin
50 Pete Townshend
51 Paul Kossoff of Free
52 Lou Reed
53 Mickey Baker
54 Jorma Kaukonen of Jefferson Airplane
55 Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple
56 Tom Verlaine of Television
57 Roy Buchanan
58 Dickey Betts
59 & 60 Jonny Greenwood, Ed O'Brien of Radiohead
61 Ike Turner
62 Zoot Horn Rollo of the Magic Band
63 Danny Gatton
64 Mick Ronson
65 Hubert Sumlin
66 Vernon Reid of Living Colour
67 Link Wray
68 Jerry Miller of Moby Grape
69 Steve Howe of Yes
70 Eddie Van Halen
71 Lightnin' Hopkins
72 Joni Mitchell
73 Trey Anastasio of Phish
74 Johnny Winter
75 Adam Jones of Tool
76 Ali Farka Toure
77 Henry Vestine of Canned Heat
78 Robbie Robertson of the Band
79 Cliff Gallup of the Blue Caps (1997)
80 Robert Quine of the Voidoids
81 Derek Trucks
82 David Gilmour of Pink Floyd
83 Neil Young
84 Eddie Cochran
85 Randy Rhoads
86 Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath
87 Joan Jett
88 Dave Davies of the Kinks
89 D. Boon of the Minutemen
90 Glen Buxton of Alice Cooper
91 Robby Krieger of the Doors
92 & 93 Fred "Sonic" Smith, Wayne Kramer of the MC5
94 Bert Jansch
95 Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine
96 Angus Young of AC/DC
97 Robert Randolph
98 Leigh Stephens of Blue Cheer
99 Greg Ginn of Black Flag
100 Kim Thayil of Soundgarden

I'm surprised why they havent included some of the speed kings like Satch, Malmsteen, Steve Vai and Petrucci. And Slash not being on the list is a big surprise for me. He was my first Guitar hero and my inspiration to play the six string. That guy is extremely popular & is a fav amongst many many ppl.

Anyways, leave a comment at the end, with yr favorite guitarist and your name. Peace out.............

Guitar Anatomy

To know the guitar, you must first learn what the different parts of the guitar are. The pictures below will show you what each part of the guitar is called.

Before you begin playing, you must also know how the frets and strings are numbered (See Figure Below). The strings are numbered from the lightest (thinnest) to the heaviest (thickest). So the thinnest string is the first string, and the thickest is the 6th string. A guitar in standard tuning is tuned to E-A-D-G-B-E. This shows the 6th string to the 1st string. In other words. 6th string - Low E, 5th string -A , 4th -D, 3rd -G, 2nd -B, 1st -High E. Look at the diagram to find out how the frets are numbered. Note: The 0 fret is also the open note on each string.