A new and INSAAN band has made its waves in Green Hope High School. The band consists of beginner guitarist Catlin Belingon (‘25), bassist Aarush Damarla (‘26), drummer Devdatt Deshmukh (‘24) and lead singer Anam Siddiqi (‘25). The band debuted last April at Green Hope’s 2024 Talent Show, where they swiftly won first place after performing “Rolling in the Deep” by Adele.
Having formed their group in early March of this year, beginner guitarist Belingon stated in an interview with The GH Falcon that, “It was a surreal experience for us all. Getting performance experience right away taught us what we should be working on!”
In preparation for the Talent Show the group had a total of three rehearsals. All of which took place during SMART Lunch inside the Chorus Ensemble room.
Initially, the group was meant to be a one time thing just for the Talent Show. Overtime, however, the group found themselves forming into a real band.
According to Belingon the group first began as just her, Siddiqi and Deshmukh. Siddiqi and Belingon have been best friends for years, while Deshmukh was invited to the group after Siddiqi introduced Deshmukh to Belingon. It was only in April, however, when they met Damarla.
It was then the group decided on a few different band names till Siddiqi’s mom suggested the name INSAAN to them. “The name INSAAN comes from a word in Hindi, Arabic and Urdu meaning “Human” which we loved. It almost looks like “insane” – which is almost ironic but we found it as a meaningful coincidence,” Belingon said. Liking its meaning, the group chose to settle on the name.
The name INSAAN comes from a word in Hindi, Arabic and Urdu meaning “Human” which we loved. It almost looks like “insane” – which is almost ironic but we found it as a meaningful coincidence.
— Caitlin Belingon (‘25)
As a group, each of the band members rely on each other to play their tunes. “We catch each other’s drifts really well and we’re able to adapt quickly,” Belingon added. The group performs a mixture of song covers and their own original songs.
Currently, the group gets together every Sunday at Deshmukh’s house to rehearse their songs. Between the four, Siddiqi writes their original lyrics, Belingon makes the chords while collaborating with Deshmukh to make a solid drum line, and Damarla works to create his own free bassline.
“We’re working on finding a lead guitarist, so I’m sure this list isn’t going to be the final one,” added Belingon. In their freetime, the group has been planning their social media branding, future setlists, and gig locations nonstop.
Excited for their future together as an official band, they plan on continuing to work on getting their equipment, social media and memorized setlists more organized soon. With enough steady gigs, they hope to eventually make it within the music industry in the future.
