Kailasa (band)

Kailasa is an Indian fusion band, founded by Kailash Kher. The name of the band is taken from an accented pronunciation of Kailash's own name as well as Mount Kailash, the abode of Hindu God Shiva. Along with guitars, drums and keyboards, the band incorporates classical Indian instruments and sometimes traditional lyrics into their songs to infuse folk and a Sufi hue.

Band members

 * Kailash Kher — lead vocals
 * Paresh Kamath — lead guitar, keyboards, backing vocals
 * Naresh Kamath — bass guitar, keyboards, backing vocals
 * Kurt Peters — drums
 * Manuj Dubey — Indian & Western percussions, backing vocals
 * Jose Neil Gomes – saxophone, violin, acoustic guitar, flute
 * Sankalp Srivastava – keyboard
 * Tapas Roy / Vikram Biswakarma – mandolin, dulcimer
 * Jovian Soans – Audio engineer
 * Roosevelt Dsouza / Abhishek Roy Sanyal – architectural lighting design, lighting engineer
 * Prakash Ahuja – graphic designer or LED and graphics engineer
 * Satish Subramaniam Iyer – manager

Musical style
Kailasa's music is a blend of medieval Indian music, Sufi and Western music. Lyrical themes though vary but the most distinct style of Kailash Kher is where he sings as through a female devotee/lover trying to persuade her deity/loved one. Fusion of love, worship and persuasion is inspired by the works of medieval Rajasthani poet Meerabai. Such an influence can be observed in songs 'Teri Deewani' and 'Albela Saajan' from their eponymous debut album. Similar theme can be found in another of their song 'Babam Bam' from the album 'Jhoomo Re' where the singer is persuading Lord Shiva.

Due to the complex nature of musical arrangement in their songs, Kailasa involve artists other than band members in the recording process to play instruments like Harmonium, Dholak, Tabla Sarangi, Iranian Setar, Ravanahatta, Rabab, Saz, Oud, Mandolin, Santoor, Sitar, Mor Chang, Khartal etc. The artists are credited for their work in each of their album.

Performances
The band is renowned all over the world for being one of the only pure live Hindustani music bands and one of the most celebrated bands in India. What started off as a trio of Mr. Paresh Kamath, Mr. Naresh Kamath and Padma Shri Kailash Kher has now grown into a collective of some of the most talented musicians, instrumentalists and technical crew that the country has to offer.The Kailasa Band has taken the music of the country to multiple countries; United States of America, England, South Africa, Australia, Mauritius, to name a few, having performed in various prestigious venues and acclaimed music festivals across the world, in a career spanning nearly 2 decades and over 1500 concerts. Some of the venues and festivals that the Kailasa Band have performed include but are not limited to: “The Hollywood Bowl” in Los Angeles, “The Kennedy Center'' in Washington, the historical “Fillmore Center” in San Francisco, “Royal Festival Hall” in London, “Symphony Hall” in Birmingham, the Santa Monica Pier Music Festival, Stern Grove Music Festival, International Music Festival at Webster Hall, New York, to name a few. The band has performed in more than 500 cities worldwide including Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Singapore, Malaysia, Houston, San Francisco, London and New York.

Discography

 * Kailasa (2006)
 * Jhoomo Re (2007)
 * Chaandan Mein (2009)
 * Rangeele (2012)
 * Ishq Anokha (2016)