The Raghu Dixit Project, Susheela Raman, and Strings played the Mumbai Mirror Live Jam at Bandra Fort, Mumbai. We were there. (Note: Mumbai Mirror refused our photographer entry to take photos. If you’d like to share your pictures at the concert, send them to us at kvlt at nh7 dot in).
The Raghu Dixit Project
The Bangalore folk rockers got the Bandra Fort crowd sufficiently warmed up as they began their set with the energetic ‘Masti ki Basti’; their song on the upcoming season finale of The Dewarists TV show. From there, they went on to songs from their debut album like ‘Gudugudiya’ and ‘Hey Bhagwan’, as well as ‘Har Saans Mein’ from the Mujhse Fraaandship Karoge OST (more on that here).
Their performance had their usual vivacious feel with the younger members of the band truly proving their worth on stage. 19-year-old flautist Parth blew out some poetic folk and Carnatic melodies along with Bryden Stephen Lewis, who cranked out some intricate, screechy guitar-licks.
Their jokes and merry-making was infections , yet there were moments where you felt a little bullied to participate. It sort of turned into a game of ‘Raghu says’ – Raghu says, “Sing,” you sang; He said, “Clap,” you clapped; He said, “Stand,” you stood; He said, “Dance,” you danced. There were some clawing sound issues (feedback from Raghu’s mic) too. However, The Raghu Dixit Project still pulled off an energetic performance with intermittent irritations.
Indiecision: B
Susheela Raman
Our last in depth review of a Susheela Raman gig here in Mumbai saw editor Arjun S Ravi floored in exasperated ecstasy as he was baptised and converted in to a ‘devotee of her church.’ We went to mass on Saturday (Dec 10) to witness another choral liturgy from the high priestess herself, only to be reassured of our faith in the Church of Raman.
Bending notes, manipulating melodies, and playing with time signatures, she did not create a fusion of Carnatic, jazz and blues but a united front of musical fission. She snapped genres into tiny little pieces of shrapnel that sliced at your preconceptions of music.
Igniting Raman’s explosive vocals was Sam Mills on acoustic guitar who interweaved ambient sounds with the use of effects pedals, along with traditional Rajasthani musicians Nathoo Lal Solanki on nagara drums and Kutle Khan on vocals, morchang and percussion.
Highlights include
- She went from bass to soprano in one shreak of, “AMMA.”
- Her cover of Bob Dylan’s ‘Like a Rolling Stone’ saw her playing around with the time signature and the entire melody. You felt accused and victimised as she wailed, “How does it feel. To be on your own. With no direction home. Like a complete unknown. Like a rolling stone!”… Grr!
- She did a Rajasthani mash-up of ‘Raise Up’ where Khan joined her in the chorus, matching up to her with his own stalwart microphone-melting vocals.
- The pièce de résistance was her rendition of Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Voodoo Child’ where she started off singing an old Tamil hymn, and continuing in the same raag, moved into ‘Voodoo Child’. Need I say more.
Indiecision: A-
Strings
This Pakistani duo were a crowdpleaser with The Edge-esque guitar hooks and power-ballad Hindi/Urdu rock. However, their music had more presence than the band itself. Lead vocalist Faisal Kapadia was particularly awkward on stage with his boy-band hand-gesturing to the crowd and to the heavens, constantly adjusting his ear plugs, and trying to “carefully” jump around on stage. You didn’t feel that “frontman” presence on stage at all. Guitarist Bilal Maqsood wasn’t a dominating figure either, and could have easily melted into the background if it weren’t for the fact that they were actually making music on stage. What really stood out was the drummer, who not only had more character sitting at the back of the stage than the whole band put together, but banged out some versatile beats and even went in to a dubstep arrangement during one of their songs.
However, Strings did pull out some surprises during the course of their performance. During their song ‘Hai Koi Hum Jaisa’, which was the song they made for the Pakistani cricket team (when they played against the Indian cricket team in 2003), they started batting and bowling on stage with a cricket bat and tennis balls (they threw balloons into the crowd earlier too). The whole band (including the audience) created an impromtu drum circle. Strings did not fail to entertain but they did lack a little of that rock and roll swagger.
Indiecision: B-
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