It's been a successful year for Swarathma, the rock band that freely uses Indian folk tunes and lyrics in their fusion tracks. Vasu Dixith, lead singer and founder of the band, shares his experiences of performing live to an appreciative audience in Singapore.

Q: How did rock fans in Singapore treat you?
A: To the best of my knowledge, no other Indian rock band has performed live in Singapore. We are the pioneers. Artistes like Shakira, Michael Jackson and Enrique Iglesias have a cult following in Singapore and we count ourselves very lucky to have performed in front of a welcoming audience.

Is there a world tour in the making?
A: No. We aren't going out in a big way. The Singapore gig was part of South East Asia tour. We are overwhelmed by the response we got in Singapore. We never really expected them to be open to our kind of music. We are encouraged to go ahead and make fresh tracks.

Q: Is there a shift from hard rock to fusion rock?
A: Yeah, there is a shift. Young, serious singers are joining in. They are not into music as time pass. They have a fire to excel. In Singapore, the audience was predominantly under twenty, and added a tremendous amount of energy to the performance.
 
Q: Weren't the folk tunes and lyrics lost on the crowd?
A: Of course not. That's the beauty of music. We will continue writing our own songs. We will continue to work on fusion tracks and we're sure more people will come to enjoy our music.