Karnataka

Karnataka are a UK progressive rock and progressive folk group formed in 1996 by Ian Jones. Jones begins the project as a home-studio recording effort for songs he has already written and performed in earlier bands, and he expands it with other musicians, including some he has worked with before. After the initial recordings, the project develops into a band. The name comes from Jones’s trips to Karnataka in India.

Early albums and rise

The band’s debut album, Karnataka, receives a positive response from The Classic Rock Society and helps bring their music to a wider audience. By then, the group is already writing material for a second album, The Storm. That album is recorded between August and November 1999 in Jones’s studio, with mixing at Rockfield Studios in Monmouth.

Further live work leads to distribution through Voiceprint. The third album, Delicate Flame Of Desire, is recorded with producer Steve Evans and mixed by Joe Gibb. It reaches a wider audience through Radio 2 airplay and extensive media coverage.

Line-up changes and later releases

After touring extensively, Karnataka release the double live album Strange Behaviour in 2004, accompanying what becomes the band’s final tour before the existing line-up parts company. After a period of inactivity, Jones reforms the band and, after auditions and rehearsals, settles a new line-up for the fourth studio album The Gathering Light. That version of the band includes Gonzalo Carrera on keyboards, Enrico Pinna on guitars and Lisa Fury on vocals, with Ian Harris on drums and Phillipa Cookman on backing vocals for live work.

The Gathering Light is released in February 2010, receives strong reviews and wins Best Foreign Album at the World Web Prog Awards in Italy. The band continues to perform live, but Lisa Fury leaves after saying she intends to emigrate to Australia.

2011 onward

Jones and Enrico Pinna then expand the line-up with full-time members rather than session players. In 2011 the band adds multi-instrumentalist Colin Mold and keyboard player Cagri Tozluoglu, followed later in the year by lead vocalist Hayley Griffiths, who has previously performed with Riverdance and Michael Flatley’s Lord of the Dance. Matt McDonough joins the band for the 2012 tour period.

The group completes an extensive UK tour between January and March 2012 and records a performance at The Met Theatre in Bury in high-definition video for a DVD/CD release. In 2018 Sertari becomes the band’s new vocalist. The band continues writing new material, announces the New Dawn Rising Tour in 2020, and releases Requiem For A Dream in 2023.

Line-up

Current members listed are Gavin Griffiths and Nick May, with the group originating in the United Kingdom and active since 1997.