At the Eastwind Festival that concludes today, the boys from Assam wowed the audience with their brand of Bihu-meets-Sufi music. “If there is a group that has the potential to make it big internationally, it is this band,” declared Rahul Ram of Indian Ocean, tapping his foot to their songs.

As they mixed Assamese folk rock with electronica, interspersed with Sufi rhythms, classical ragas and a dollop of reworked, recharged Bihu songs, powered by Mahanta’s soulful vocals, The East India Company succeeded in creating a new sound and more importantly, a new audience in the Capital. “There is music beyond Bollywood and Punjabi remixes, and we intend to explore new levels in fusion music,” said Mahanta, the latest in the field of folk rock in India.

In 2004, three years before the band was formed, Mahanta aka Papon released his first Assamese folk album Jonaki Raati. As the word about the album spread, so did the sales. From 300 copies in the first month to nearly 80,000 copies at last count, Mahanta’s “new and free” music found takers across the country. It was so free that it couldn’t be confined to any genre and so new that it couldn’t be identified with anything that already existed.

After Mahanta formed the band last year with guitarist Krishna, bassist Dipu from the popular Assam-based rock act Faith and independent artists Brin Desai (the only non-Assamese in the band) and percussionist Kirti, there was no looking back. The group continues to modify, tighten, and experiment with their sound since Mahanta regularly lends his voice to the Midival Punditz and collaborates with other artists as well. In between, Mahanta and Desai even worked on the music for The Last Monk, an independent film that has toured festivals worldwide.