Vinayak Hegde

Recently London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) – Renga Ensemble performed with Karnataka College of Percussion Quartet (KCP4) at the Chowdiah Hall in Malleswaram. The pieces played were a fantastic blend of Western Classical and Carnatic music. The last three pieces played were the finest (“17th Cross”, “Bangalore” and “Guru”). This was also the first time I heard the instruments – The Basoon and the Double Bass. The beautiful compositions got a standing ovation from the crowd (twice). Sadly their music is not available on a CD. Otherwise I would buy it in a jiffy. Leave a comment if it is not so.

Last weekend I went to the Fireflies festival of Music. Fireflies festival was relatively less known underground indie festival on the outskirts of Bangalore but has become popular over the years. This years edition had several good bands crossing various genres and covering everything from traditional and experimental sounds of Kerala to sufi inspired hymns to Lounge Piranha’s alternative grunge and Low Rhyderz Reggae and Hiphop.

I reached a little late around 7pm and stayed through the night through till the last two acts. All the acts were very good and the variety was staggering. The only downside was the time taken to setup the stage and occasional problems with the sound setup.

Esperanto Soul Fusion

With Geeta Navale on the Veena, the esperanto project had some funky psychedelic sounds combined with Carnatic music.

HFT Jazz

Shabnam Virmani rendtion of “Kabir ke dohe”

Shabnam Virmani – Filmmaker-turned-singer regaled the audience with her soulful rendition of couplets of Kabir. She explained the meaning of the couplets before singing them. Her performance got a fantastic response from the audience.

Hulivesa

Definitely the highlight if the evening was Huilvesa – a traditional dance from coastal Karnataka. Hulivesa (Loose Tulu translation “In the form of a tiger”) is performed by young males typically aged between 5 years to 10 years are painted with yellow and black stripes like tiger adorning tiger masks and other props. The kids dance to a familiar drumbeat and perform various acts such as eating a coconut and doing acrobatic acts.

Lounge Piranha

Lounge Piranha are a post-rock alternative grunge band. They performed several songs from their released (and upcoming) albums. They played some good guitar riffs. The lead singer had a wry sense of humour and kept making jibes at “world music”.

Qawwali – Bharat Sargam and group

The Qawwali troupe got the audience on their feet by playing some popular songs such as “Jhoom Barabar Jhoom” and “Mast Kalandar”. There was almost a mini riot when the audience wanted to play one more song but the organisers wouldn’t relent and let them play the request.

Vayali – Traditional Kerala songs and experimental bamboo orchestra

Vayali started with an experimental bamboo orchestra in which all the instruments (mainly percussion) were made of Bamboo. They ended their performance with traditional Kerala songs.

Low Rhyderz

Low Rhyderz is a Hip-Hop/Reggae band. Probably the least interesting on all the performances, they were not able to engage the audiences like the other artistes. They were high on style but disappointingly low on entertainment.

Yamini is a annual Dusk-to-Dawn Cultural Festival at IIM Bangalore. Last year, I went to Yamini and it was a fantastic experience. It is conveniently scheduled on the eve of 26th January. Yamini 2010 continued till the wee hours of dawn and featured perfomances from :

• Carnatic Vocals by Nityashree Mahadevan
• Veena performances by Vidushi Gayathri
• Kathak Performance by Shambhavi Vaze (and troupe)
• Hindustani Vocals by Anand Bhate (from the Kirana Gharana)

Some of the strains of earlier songs performed by Veena Gayathri reminded me of the early blues and distortion guitar (One of the songs performed eerily reminded me of Jimi Hendrix’s guitaring). Anand Bhate’s hindustani vocal was the standout performance and had the audience begging for more. The performance continued well into the morning as Anand Bhate sang the Rag Malkauns, kannada bhajans and marathi abhangs. His was one of the best voices I have heard in a long time and the amount of control and range he had was amazing. The performances were co-ordinated by SPIC-MACAY IIM Bangalore sub-chapter.

Some of the photos from the Kathak Performances by Shambhavi Vaze and group are posted below. The complete set on flickr .

Yamini is a annual Dusk-to-Dawn Cultural Festival at IIM Bangalore. This year Yamini 2009 featured perfomances from :

• Carnatic Vocals by Sisters Ranjani and Gayatri
• Violin Performances by Mysore Nagaraj and Dr. Manjunath (popularly known as the Mysore brothers)
• Bharatnatyam Performance by Urmila Sathyanarayanan (see pictures below)
• Flute by the reknown Pandit Ronu Majumdar (The best perfomance of the night has the audience begging for more)

The perfomances were co-ordinated by SPIC-MACAY IIM Bangalore sub-chapter. More pictures here.

Nokia had a free touch the tune concert at Palace Grounds featuring the Raghu Dixit Project, Karsh Kale and MIDIval Punditz. On Friday, I got a chance to meet Raghu Dixit and Gaurav Vaz from the Raghu Dixit project at Cafe Coffee Day.

After getting passes from them, I inadvertently blurted out that I was looking forward to hearing Karsh Kale (who is one of my favourite artists). Raghu heard that comment and then started pulling my leg. I also met Swaroop and Varun from Ionlabs who are also fans of the Raghu Dixit Project. After a dinner with Swaroop and Varun at the Sigma mall (Moti Mahal in Sigma Hall has really good ‘Butter Chicken’), I left for home.

Next day, I reached the venue early and had a chat with some people from the RAVE magazine in London. I also met Kalyan at the venue who was also photographing the concert. The crowds started coming in at about 8pm and the concert started a bit late with Raghu Dxit project being the opening act. I had access to the stage and backstage. They played some of their hits such as ‘Hey Bhagwan’ , ‘Mysore se Aayi’ , ‘Khidki’ and ‘Gudgudiya’. Raghu was his witty self and had the crowd on their feet within no time with people requesting their favourite songs and singing along.

They were followed by Midival Punditz and Karsh Kale who were playing together for the first time in Bangalore. They played some of their hits such as ‘Milan’ , ‘Ali’ and ‘Bhangra Fever’ amongst others. The last song played was ‘Banao’. It was a funny song which chronicles the making of a rolling of ganja (cocaine) for a smoke. It is an unreleased song but is available for download as an bootleg mp3 on the web according to the MIDIval Punditz singer.

After the concert I was got to talk to Karsh Kale and Midival Punditz back stage. I was able to show him the photos of him taken during the concert. It was great to meetup with him. I have been listening to his music for more than 3-4 years and it was dream come true.

More here