Soulbeats

The most striking thing about the band is that they are all crazy about the retro aesthetics of soulful, psychedelic beats.

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You decide to go there, weighed down by an uneasy feeling of being in communion with triviality all around you, all the time. In fact the dreariness of the world takes you to Route 66 Pub. And after a few hours immersed in live music, you

your head. You have just had a tryst with your own joyful persona, the existence of which you could never even acknowledge, let alone experience, due to reasons best known to you. As an immediate impact of the beats you have turned more receptive to the subtle music of the sea and the clouds, which hitherto escaped your attention. You owe it all to the gig by the T band, the foursome rock ‘n’ roll

cover band that invite you from the far end of your boredom to a night of vibrant music at the funky pub every other weekend. You may even mistake the band for the mystical pipers at the gate of dawn – or dusk, for it is so Pink Floyd-esque.The most striking thing about the band is that they are all crazy

about the retro aesthetics of soulful, psychedelic beats. Their DNA has the strands of chronic infatuation with the hypnotic music of the 70s and 80s, and an aversion to the algorithm-like music of today. Soulful music is their raison d'être. The more you listen to them, the

Sarnga Dharan Nambiar

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more you are convinced that they are all, one way or other, musical alter egos of legends of the time such as Eric Clapton,

who redeemed numerous lives from the mundaneness of existence with their

The T band is one of Oman’s most loved rock ‘n’ roll (and R&B) cover bands, founded by Lebanese guitarist and vocalist Tarek. In all probability, T band stands for Tarek’s band. But T band could also mean a Tribute band, with each of their performance being a beautiful tribute to the music of the 70s and 80s. And like major bands such as the Beatles and Pink Floyd, T band too is a four-member ensemble. Tarek, Adil (guitarist), Ashraf (bassist) and Akbar (drummer) make the fab four, who can effortlessly break into a rhapsody of rhythm for no apparent reason. While Adil and Akbar are Omanis, Ashraf is from Sudan.

musicians. They are all employed, and busy with their professional lives. Tarek is a general manager with a famous bakery

Akbar is a purchasing manager with a prominent star hotel. Ashraf works with Oman’s leading telecom company as an IT expert, and Adil is an HSE manager with a reputed energy company. Music, for them, is a means to justify

People who believe so are our followers, and their numbers

are quite significant. Any-ways, irrespective of music genres people of Oman, in-cluding both nationals and

expatriates, love music.

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themselves and to seek transcendence. Be it the Route 66 Pub at Shatti Qurum, where the band plays regular gigs every

they perform once every month on Friday nights; or the Trafalgar Ball or Oman Sail’s Regatta, the quartet’s impact is awesome: the venue’s soundscape gets elevated to an ethereal realm and the organic beauty of the strains get people into the groove quite naturally. With a repertoire of over 120

Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin and Metallica

Police, the band is vivacious indeed.I met them when they were warming up

for an evening live show at Route 66, just back from their professional engagements of the day — reason enough for most of us to slump onto a sofa. The song of the moment was Pink Floyd’s “Wish you were

they smilingly nodded to each other and grabbed their drinks at the popular pub’s balcony, with the gentle yet dusky sea providing a psychedelic backdrop.How did you win the Stereophonics Battle

of the Bands? I asked the quartet even as the sea crooned a sailor’s song. “We won probably because we performed better than others,” Tarek, the band leader, says

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with a not-so-wry smile, adding, “We had, as always, an amazing onstage chemistry, which brought out the best in us. We could also engage with the vibrant crowd beautifully.”Stealing a look at the rolling waves, Tarek

continued as an afterthought: “We aren’t into competitions, generally. It’s not in our nature. We have no inclination to prove to anyone what we are. We just play music, and are least bothered about winning or losing. Battle of the Bands contest offered a chance for the winning band to do the opening act for the global band Stereophonics. We admire Stereophonics a lot, and so we decided to participate in the contest.”And the T band opened the Stereophonics show

with élan. “Tasked with warming up the crowd present at the Stereophonics show, we had to get really smart. Song selection was the real challenge,” Khorshid reminisces.T band has a great fan following among the party

animals and music lovers of all ages and hues in

gen pop stars? Isn’t it quite remarkable that T band has remained quite popular sticking to the music of the 70s and 80s?

away on a Marlboro. “The point is the music of those days had a soul. It had depth. It had meaning. It had everything. The music of today is quite different, though it has its own charm. But we truly feel that we miss the subtle, psychedelic composition and the music (beats) that came from deep within,” he said. “People who believe so are our followers, and their

of music genres people of Oman, including both nationals and expatriates, love music. What the Sultanate lacks is an atmosphere that enables a vibrant music culture. No more do we have those splendid jam nights here, as it used to be. Rules have changed. Live bands are restricted,” he continued with a sense of loss.But what is truly remarkable is that not one of them

is professionally trained in music. All of them are

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self-taught. It was an ardent love for soulful music that brought them together. They learnt everything on their own, by observing, reading and a great deal of strenuous practising. And through, of course, a lot of jam nights. “But the most important factor that ensured our band’s success is the fact that we play only those songs that we love absolutely,” Ashraf, the band’s bass maestro who has been maintaining his stoic silence till then, joined the conversation.“Speaking about the bands of the 70s and 80s,

no one can miss how deftly and innovatively they tweaked their instruments and achieved a subliminal form of singing. For instance, Pink Floyd is quite philosophical as it is psychedelic. The lyrics are metaphorical and subtle allowing for myriad interpretations. Today, you can easily attract a large crowd by your capacity to shrill and shriek on the mic, so to say. But the question is does such music stand the test of time,” he added.The band has no doubt that what plagues the

is a lack of originality and emotion. The advent of voice enhancers and mechanical voice distortion has seriously affected the quality of music that is churned out season after season, they believe.

At a time when the commercial success of a song can be predicted by a mathematician who has absolutely no clue about music, using a formula called the ‘Hit Equation’, the T band continues to remind us of the purity and organic beauty of the musical legacy we have inherited which we can ill afford to ignore.

The band’s popularity continues to be on the rise. The band had back to back performances during the X’mas-New Year season, and remains fully booked till September. “We are choosy; not all requests for performance can be accepted. We have to say no to events that look for the music of the Biebers, which unfortunately leave some of the

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