“WE ARE THE SITAR SERVICE, HOW MAY WE BE OF SERVICE?”
Have you ever wondered what it would sound like if you took rock n roll and combined it with Hindustani Classical - more specifically Jimi Hendrix and Ravi Shankar? The band you are looking for is called the Sitar Service. Rod Bourganos, Antoine Paine, and Sameer Khan make up the band, diving into medleys in the waves of Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, and Black Sabbath - with a twist: performing the music in Hindustani classical fashion.
The Sitar Service left to right: Antione Paine, Sameer Khan, Rod Bourganos
Rod first got into Hindustani Classical partly due to his heritage:
“My mom used to be part of a classical Indian dance group, more specifically Odissi dance. Therefore, I grew up with certain proximity to Hindustani culture even though it was very distant from my South American upbringing. I had a Sitar at home and started taking lessons early on when I started to play the guitar. Later on I had the opportunity of taking lessons with Maestro Chandranath Bhattacharya in Singapore, but I ended up distancing myself from Hindustani classical and only retrieved it through Sameer.”
The Sitar Service has been around for about 2 years. Rod and Antoine originally had the idea of the band by having occasional Sitar Sets with their other band Flare Voyant. When they met Sameer through mutual friends, they bonded instantly over shared appreciation for rock and Hindustani music. It was only natural that the band took off, with careful provisions and studying of Ragas to ensure the band used Ragas properly and avoid sounding like ‘Hippies on Acid with Sitars.’
As for the philosophy of the band, Sameer describes it as:
“The philosophy is pretty straight forward. It can be quite frustrating sometimes that the novelty of the group gets lost in the translation. We are here essentially to promote Hindustani Classical music in its various forms and give it some relatability to a non-South Asian audience and also audiences who have not been exposed to this kind of serious music. I’ve been studying Hindustani Classical music my whole life so to be able to combine my heritage and my passion with my absolute love of 60’s and 70’s culture is a dream.
“Sometimes I clash with Rod and his ideas, only due to a fear that what we are doing as a group can be seen as a novelty. So I try my best to stick as close and as true to the representation of the Raga as possible. I guess, because it emotionally affects me more than most since being of a South Asian (Pakistani) background I get a bit touchy. And having Rodrigo and Anthony next to me in a way guiding my sail towards this goal of authenticity really helps me come out of my shell during the shows and, of course, when talking about ideas of what songs to interpret next.”
While the band does not have any studio material, their live sets remain electrifying and hypnotic - resembling a sweet spot of ecstasy and transcendence. Rock n roll and Hindustani Classical music have vast histories, so it is refreshing to hear something truly unique in the world of music.
Sameer describes a typical Sitar Service gig in the fashion of:
“There are many moments and many shows where we feel really inspired, and the connection we built together over the last two years comes out and is seen and heard. We try to encourage each other to give just that little bit more. Because being in a band is very much about giving space to everybody so that they can do their thing, we sometimes get lost in that and start to hide rather than “contain” but once we have that confidence to experience each song, moment to moment, we encourage each other and sometimes direct the movement too. We all trust each other, so we are only too eager to listen!!!”
As a band, The Sitar Service has had amazing opportunities to play at legendary venues including The Troubadour and Handel & Hendrix. The band would like to release a single: “We have some really cool ideas and have the advantage of being enthusiasts of the music and culture that we are very much a part of,” Sameer says. “Music is life and without it we wouldn’t have any life or music to share.”
Hear for yourself the wonder of the Sitar Service: