Gauley Bhai ("the boy from back home/of the neighbourhood" in Nepali, lit. "younger brother from the village") is a transtraditional rock band, based in Bangalore and Kalimpong. In 2017, a group of friends met in a jam room in Bangalore - Siddhant, Veecheet and Anudwatt from Kalimpong (Gorkhaland - nepali-speaking north-east India) & Joe from Calicut (Kerala). They began creating music that reflected their journeys of migration. The music drew from sounds of their childhood, growing up in small towns, and the fractures of life in a city.
Over the years, through many ups and downs including a global pandemic, their search for a unique sound carries on. Their eclectic influences range from Nepali folk (Jhalakman Gandharva, Bir Bahadur Biswakarma), South-Indian Singari rhythms, Malian folk (Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba), Tuareg rock (Tamikrest, Mdou Moctar), western guitarists like Marc Ribot or R.L Burnside, and of course the great classics of rock, blues and hiphop from the US.