Kolkata band jives to World Cup songs

Kolkata: Germany, the home for FIFA World Cup 2006, is thousands of kilometre away from football crazy Kolkata.

The heat however, of the global football fest is probably best felt in the city.

Kolkata based band called Joar, literally meaning high-tide, has set the tone for celebration of perhaps the most popular sporting fest in the world.

The band, specialising in Bengali numbers, has released songs dedicated to the spirit of the FIFA World Cup 2006.

The three membersof the folk band are diehard football buffs and avid followers of Latin American football, like most people in Kolkata.

Even their World Cup songs bear a strong influence of the Latin American rhythmic pattern.

"We as musicians, as part of Bangla band Joar, it's a very popular band nowadays, have composed a song on the World Cup," keyboardist and vocalist, Debmalya says.

"The rhythm pattern is of Brazilian Samba, it's a take-off from Caribbean folk," he adds.

Their songs mention icons of the past and the present, like Pele, Maradona, Platini, Ronaldinho, Beckham, and Jidan.

"We basically make songs on current affairs such as the incident of volcanic eruption in the Barren Islands, on Saurav Ganguly's spat with the national selectors, the Satyendra Dubey incident of Bihar," lead guitarist, Ripon says.

"From this, we got an idea of making a song on World Cup 2006," he adds.

Their first World Cup number is already a hit. The band is a regular feature of most chat shows on television and radio.

They are also being invited to perform by the elite clubs of the city. The band has been around for sometime, slowly making a place for itself in the city's vibrant music scene.

They make it a point to try and compose songs on relevant issues, which they feel must not fade away from public memory too soon.

And that is what led them to compose songs on the World Cup theme.

However, this is no surprise for whoever knows the kind of passion Kolkata has for things it loves, football being at the top of the list.

Young football fans of the city are going crazier by the day as the countdown for the D-day on June 9 is nearing.