Vinayak Hegde

I am back to blogging after a hiatus of nearly a year. I recently went to the Big Junction Jam festival after reading about on NH7. (NH7 is a fantastic site if you like indie music and is a great place to find the latest gigs.)

Big Junction Jam was a good fest with more than 25 bands playing from morning to late night. The list of bands that played on Day 1 included Evergreen, Old School Rebels, Bourbon Street, Joos, Mad Orange Fireworks, Black Sun, Indian Blues, Khalihann, Pralayh, Live Banned, Indigraffiti, Paradigm Shift, Bridge, Agam, Parvaaz and Beat Gurus. The list of bands that played on Day 2 were Dark Desolation, Amethyst, The Renegades, Verses, Corrode, Mechanix, Audi-o-file, Heretic, Jekyll and Hyde, Brahmm, Flee, Chronic Blues Circus, Blakc, Kryptos, Ministry of Blues, Sulk Station and DJ Vishnu.
There were several good and talented bands and the light and sound system was fabulous. Unfortunately the event was not very well marketed and attendance was thin. On the flipside, that was good as few photographers including me got stage access and could get good photos in the brilliant lighting. In this gig, I experimented a lot with the square format, B&W post processing and triptychs. Below are few samples of the three formats. Click on the photos to make them bigger. You can see the complete set on flickr at Big Junction Jam Festival 2011 slideshow.

Square format is fairly uncommon in photography but in this cases it looked apt like CD covers.

I recently saw an announcement for Ubuntu Artwork. Ubuntu is asking photographers and graphics artists for artwork for inclusion in the Ubuntu Linux Distribution. The photos have to be CC-by-SA licensed to be considered. I managed to submit about 17 of my best pictures before the deadline. Feel free to use the larger versions from Flickr for wallpapers (since quite a few of you have asked me about them). The wallpapers from last Ubuntu (10.04) contest are here. Few of the photographs submitted are below.

Meanwhile my camera (Nikon D80) should be back from repair and servicing tomorrow from the Nikon service center.

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 year I had been to a friend’s place and seen a painting at her place which I liked a lot. She said she had bought it at Chitra Santhe. Chitra Santhe is typically held on the last Sunday of January every year along the Kumara Krupa Road. This year it was crowded and buzzing with activity and I saw several people carrying cartloads of paintings. This year, Chitra Santhe attracted more than 1300 artists and the road was choc-a-bloc with paintings of various styles. Also every other person seemed to carry a DSLR to take pictures of the artists and paintings. I did not carry my camera but the fair was a treat for the eyes. I bought a series of paintings depicting dances of India – Odissi, Bharatnatyam and Kathak. If you are in Bangalore during that time of the year, this is one event you should not miss.

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 .