Sankara was started by Anoop way back when, but it finally reached fruition sometime in February of 2003, when the band played it's first show on 21st February 2004 at Nilay, Senapati Bapat Road. The original lineup was -
Anoop - Acoustic guitar, vocals.
Amol - Percussion, vocals.
Kuldeep - Acoustic guitar, vocals.
Sank - Electric guitar.
Siddharth - bass guitar.

Unfortunately, all my friends are enemies of technology and no one could get my super simple digital camera to work, so instead of pictures, we have two short video clips of the band. Here's one (Apple Quicktime format)

The setlist was:

Shortly after, we did a gig at Jazz Garden. Didn't go down well at all. However, at our insistence, all our friends agreed to like our music.

Shortly after, we (minus Sank) did a gig at the Aqua Lounge, Arora Towers, with two members from Junoon and Koko. It was a rocking gig. We all had great fun.

The band spent the early part of 2004 writing and rehearsing, and in June we went into the studio and laid down ten tracks day in one marathon session. It was a wonderful day. The whole studio session was, in true Sankara style, fully improvised. Click here to listen to the recording. The studio lineup was:
Anoop - Acoustic guitar, vocals.
Amol - Percussion, vocals.
Kuldeep - Acoustic guitar, vocals.
Siddharth - bass guitar.

Shortly after, Anoop left for a three month backpacking trip around Europe, and by the time he came back, the band had lost all its momentum, and our two stars, Amol and Kuldeep, got busy with other projects. Nothing happened for many months, and then in November, we regrouped with a slightly changed lineup. Varun joined the band on the drums, and Koko joined along with his incendiary guitar playing. We played our first gig with this lineup at Not Just Jazz By The Bay on 20th January 2005. Luckily for you, we taped the whole gig and you can listen to the show here. The lineup was:
Anoop - Acoustic guitar, vocals.
Amol - percussion, vocals,
Koko - electric guitars, rum and coke.
Sank - fretless bass (sets 1 and 2)
Siddharth - electric bass (set 3)
Varun - Drums

The setlist was:

Two days later (22nd Jan 2005), we did a 40 minute set at Jazz Garden. This went down quite well we think. Atleast all the musicians there liked what we did. The addition of Koko and Varun has certainly lifted the band.