Sagar lives on with Contraband!

Ladies and gentlemen!Your's truly! I came from Calcutta to Pune in the summer of '86 and never went back. Along with me came a whole lot of music, having been an amateur musician in school- good old Xaviers. I'd also performed professionally once with 'Shiva' in Cal and badly wanted to start a band. The first musically inclined people I met in Pune was Vrushali, Jaideep Narayan(JD)and Ashish Manchanda, a drummer. The former two, luckily went to the same college as me and we lost no time in teaming up with another meat headed friend of ours called Kened. In fact, Kened was one of the best classical guitarists I've met till date and he was with us till 1993 when one fine day he pushed off to Bangkok to 'teach guitar', as to his real designs, I leave it to your wildest imagination! Later, it is known that he returned to Delhi and is now married and lives in Ausralia with his Japanese wife.

We practically wrested away the controls of the college band and got on the road. It was out of these modest beginnings that Contraband was, in fact formed. We had no gear, nothing. Just an ability to blues it out and a love for the road. It was left up to JD and myself to carry forward the reins of this nucleus towards what ultimately became Contraband with a whole of guys who breeezed in and out. For nearly ten years now, Contraband has played.If not regularly, sporadically. But, they have played on. From a band, it has been interpreted as a movement by many. A movement where musicians can come together and get a feel of live playing and learn to co-ordinate and improvise spontaneously. Our friends have moved many miles from the good old Pune days and I hope that when they hit their site, their very own site, it'll bring back fond memories for them.Contraband continues on into 2002 with friends like Arunava on percussion, Samuel, who is now in Thailand and comes down once in a way, and a host other guest musicians.

I Moved from Pune to Bombay in 1996 to work at Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. and fell in love and got married! I now live in Bombay with my wife Jackline and son Reuben. The Blues still lives on at my place. On and off jams with various Bombay musicians keep the old adrenalin going. Currently looking out to do a project of ecclectic music and my own compositions. Ladies and Gentlemen, bass fingers for hire!

Xavier's Class of 86..that's me, third row from top, fifth from left