1. Soul
beats
The most striking thing about the band
is that they are all crazy about the retro
aesthetics of soulful, psychedelic beats.
COMMUNITY
18 January 14, 2016
Entertainment
18

2. Y
ou 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
19January 14, 2016
Entertainment

3. 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.
20 January 14, 2016
Entertainment

4. 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
21January 14, 2016
Entertainment

5. 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
22 January 14, 2016
Entertainment

6. 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
23January 14, 2016
Entertainment