New Delhi, Jan 12 (IANS) Upcoming Bangalore based Hindi band Swarathma feels that people in India are not Bollywood-centric in their music tastes and are “open to good and new music”.“I don’t think that people in India are Bollywood-centric. In fact, I believe that now people have become more open to good and new music. It doesn’t matter whether the song is part of a film or by a band. They just want to listen to good sounds,” said Jishnu Dasgupta, bass guitarist of the band.

Swarathma was the winner of Radio City 91.1 FM’s RC Live - from amongst 125 bands. The competition took place last year. They were recently in the capital to launch their album.

By winning the competition, the band bagged an album contract from EMI backed by Radio City 91.1 FM. The album has been produced by Amit Kilam from the band Indian Ocean.

“As a drummer, working with Amit Kilam was very enriching,” said Montry Manuel who is on drums and percussions.

“He helped us a lot and took our music to another level,” he added.

It is said that the interference of music companies often force artistes to compromise on their individual styles but members of Swarathma feel otherwise.

“When we were recording the songs, creative inputs came only from the band members. EMI music broke the myth of labels being creatively confining and interfering. They just told us to go in and do our best,” Dasgupta said.

The band doesn’t want to confine their music to a particular genre that contains interplay of different influences including folk, Carnatic, classical, rock, blues and jazz in their songs and said that creating music for their album was the most enriching experience ever.

The band members comprise of Manuel, Dasgupta, Vasu Dixit (lead vocals, Rhythm guitar), Pavan Kumar (percussions, Backing vocals), Sanjeev Nayak (Violins) and Varun (Lead guitar).