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Punnamada Kayal

Punnamada Kayal is an Indian alternative rock band formed in Ernakulam, Kerala, India in 2014, which is known for their lyrics in Malayalam. The band was formed by lead vocalist Neha,Gokul Vaika,Amrutha,Vani, turntablist and backing vocalist Rohit, guitarist Gokul Vaika, bassist Martin and drummer Mithun. Punnanada Kayal had their first breakthrough with the single "Veerapandi" in 2014 and 'Senmozhi'. They are known for pioneering the style of combining Malayalam lyrics and rock music, which they call "Alternative Malayali rock". Their eponymous album Punnamada Kayal, released by Phat Phish Records in 2014, got them six out of seven Jack Daniels Rock Awards and Footprints Young Achiever's Award in that year. The band was praised for achieving mainstream success despite singing in their native language rather than in English.

After Amrutha and Vani involvent in 2014, Gokul and Neha took over the vocals, Rohit  joined in as the bassist and Neha Nair as the backing vocalist. Their debut album covers social issues, consisting of folk songs, poems and the rest written by people known to them. In 2014, they collaborated with the Italian band A67 resulting with the song "Chi Me Sape" ("Who Knows Me Knows It"). They announced in 2011 that their next album would focus more on melody than on rock.

Punnamada Kayal

Punnamada Kayal theatre.jpg Punnamada Kayalperforming at Bezra nagar, Bangalore Background information Origin	Ernakulam, Kerala, India Genres	Alternative rock Years active	2014–present Labels	Phat Phish Records Website punnadamada kayal.in/music/ Members Gokul Vaika, Neha Nair, Amrutha Bala, Vani jayaram, Rohit, Nithin, Prem, Martin,

HISTORY

2014–Present
[[File:Excelavialshow.jpg|upright=1.2|thumb|left|Guitarist [[Gokul VAIka] and drummer Mithun has been in the band since its formation in 2003]] Gokul Vaika was the guitarist from the progressive rock band Motherjane in Kochi for five years. He met Neha Nair, then band-member of Jigsaw Puzzle, which also included Amrutha Bala and Vani ., Rohit and Nithin were, for a brief period, part of a dance-music troupe by Daksha Sheth Dance Company in Thiruvananthapuram. John showed Vijayan a version of the song "Nada Nada". He liked its Malayalam lyrics and they decided to perfect it. Avial was formed in 2003 with lead vocalist Anandraj Benjamin Paul, turntablist and backing vocalist Tony John, guitarist Rex Vijayan, bassist Naresh Kamath and drummer Mithun Puthanveetil. The band was named after the south Indian dish avial, which is traditionally part of Sadya, made with a mixture of various vegetables. Vijayan thought of the name with they representing a combination of various influences with their music, just like how avial is a dish blended with assorted ingredients, being the official explanation.

"Nada Nada" was originally written by Engandiyur Chandrashekaran and John P. Varkey. The band first composed it in English for an album which they did not promote commercially. John said, "Till then we used to play only English songs. Later when we realised that the big names of rock music drew inspiration from the songs of the soil, we turned to Malayalam lyrics." They practised in John's home studio in Palayam, Thiruvananthapuram with new instrumentation and its original Malayalam lyrics. Vijayan is from Kollam while Puthanveetil is Kannur-based. Film-maker Pradeep Kalipurayath helped them shoot the song video and they uploaded it to YouTube in addition to releasing it in SS Music in 2003. Unsure whether it would get good reception and about singing in Malayalam, they waited for a year to begin recording their debut album Avial. "Nada Nada" went viral on YouTube and was well-received.

The band spent a year finding a record label and Mumbai-based Naresh Kamath got them a deal with Phat Phish Records from the city. "Karukara" from Kayal is a poem by Kavalam Narayana Panikkar from the Malayalam film Kummatti, while the rest of the songs were written by people known to them. They combined "Karukura" with heavy guitar riffs and bass lines. Gokul said, "We are not good writers. But we have good lyricist friends. We give them an idea of what we want and they give us beautiful folk lyrics". Sudhi Velamanoor wrote the songs "Aadu Pambe" and "Ettam pattu", in addition to contributions by lyricist P. B. Gireesh. Singer Aparnasree provided supporting vocals in two songs. A new version of "Nada Nada" was also in the album.

Punnamada kayal was completed in 2014 and they launched it at Bandra Amphitheatre; MTV released their music video. Their first live show was in March 2008 at the East Wind festival in New Delhi. Prior to this, lead vocalist Neha and Amrutha bala of Bals,s wife, which led to John replacing him; bassist Nithin left because of being originally from the fusion band Kailasa with Binny Issac taking his place. Neha Nair, a playback singer who specialised in Carnatic and Hindustani music, joined the band as the backing vocalist in the same year. The album sold over 45,000 copies, despite being entirely in Malayalam. They received six of the seven Jack Daniels Rock Awards in 2008 including song of the year, album of the year and band of the year in popular and critics' categories as well as the Footprints Young Achiever's Award. John said, "Language is really not an issue because the sound speaks for us. It is only the sound that matters."