In its second edition, one would imagine the lineup at the York Live Festival would warrant a greater turnout than it saw on Saturday, January 21. Set in the idyllic vineyards of Nasik, the sophomore edition of the winemarker’s music festival did most things right – reasonably priced wine (and beer!) and food, a walking tour of the distillery, a mini bazaar and excessively warm hosts made for memorable day, despite the poor turnout.
The show kicked off four hours after the scheduled start time (noon), as soundchecks of each band went on for longer than we thought they would. Four flex banners on either side of the stage had some remarkably cheesy copy along the lines of – ’Taste It With Music’, ‘Pop It To A Beat’, ‘Twirl It To The Rhythm’ and ‘Sip It To Tune’. An excited emcee introduced each artist while most of the audience sipped on their wine, and very few got up to dance.
Alisha Pais
One half of acoustic singer-songwriter duo Middle Sister, Alisha Pais opened the York Live Festival. Her set, quite ridiculously short, of three songs had one yet untitled original and two covers which included a rendition of Brandi Carlile’s ‘The Story’. She also got back after Something Relevant’s set for a note-perfect cover of ‘Hallejuah’, while Mr. Woodnote and Eva Lazarus set up.
Alisha Pais @ York Live Festival, Nasik
Something Relevant
The Mumbai jam-rockers brought an efficient set to the festival, which they opened with ‘So Called’, featuring Tanya Wells on guest vocals. Wells peppered the sound of the band with Indian classical-esque vocals. Their set included regular fixtures including ‘BBQ Mosquito’ and ‘Love Me Like You Do Me’ which saw Rachel Varghese join the band on stage on vocals. Sans Aazin Printer on vocals (who is now pursuing a career in films; “cinema” as we were informed by the band members), Something Relevant closed with ‘Move’, while most audience members chose to stay put with their wine.
Something Relevant @ York Live Festival, Nasik
Mr. Woodnote and Eva Lazarus
Bristol beatboxer and saxophone player Mr. Woodnote, often seen collaborating with Lil’ Rhys, played the sunset slot at the vineyard. Eva Lazarus joined the beatboxer on stage. Slick raps, and an equally good grip on the audience, got people moving as the sun went down after a fairly lackluster afternoon. The duo are playing two more dates this month; deets here. Mr. Woodnote toured the country earlier last year, with Lil’ Rhys in support of their new album Modus Operandi (photos from the Pune gig here).
Mr. Woodnote & Eva Lazarus @ York Live Festival, Nasik
Ayush Shrestha
Nepali singer-songwriter, now based in Mumbai, Ayush Shrestha played a considerably long transitional set while Shri set up for his performance. He was quite conversational, and tried to indulge the audience, and even kept most of them on their feet after Mr. Woodnote and Eva Lazarus’s set. He played mostly his own stuff including ‘Too True To Be True’, ‘Let the River Flow’, ‘Da Ri Di Da Ra’, ‘Jiuchu Ma Aaja (Live For Today)’ and ‘Before You Say Good Night’. The songs explored themes of love, dam protests and policies and living the day. Contributing Editor, Amit ‘The Groovebox‘ Gurbaxani referred to him as the “rich man’s Imphal Talkies“.
Ayush Shrestha @ York Live Festival, Nasik
Shri
Multi-instrumentalist Shri brought a regular setup to the festival (as previously explored at Bonobo and Blue Frog, Mumbai), and was joined by Vivek Rajagopalan and Nandini Srikar, culminating his breakbeat/pop/electronica project ShriLektric. The set initially seemed patchy, gradually got better and eventually turned out to be the highlight of the entire event. The set closer – Shri and Vivek Rajagopalan’s collab with Gulab Khan’s Nasik Dhol Band made for a fantastically inclusive experience, just when energy levels were beginning to drop.
Shri @ York Live Festival, Nasik
Tek
Slow Down Clown frontman Vitek Goyel has been performing his acoustic, solo stuff under the moniker Tek for a while now, having played a couple of early sets at Blue Frog, Mumbai and other venues across the city. He played a set of originals and material from the band’s debut EP, Say Nothing, and also a cover of ‘Just Like Heaven’ by The Cure.
Tek @ York Live Festival, Nasik
Karsh Kale
The multi-instrumentalist, producer and composer played his first solo show of 2012 in the country at the York Live Festival. His popularity was evidenced by the several inebriated fans present in the audience, who sang every word of every song and demanded the lesser known songs to be performed. A slightly perplexed Kale just smiled it off, in the middle of looking worried about the sound setup, asking it to be changed at several instances. Kale kicked off the set with ‘Electric Universe’, from the Midival Punditz album Hello Hello and progressed to ‘Supernova’ from his latest album Cinema.
Kale was accompanied on stage by Pt Ajay Prasanna on the flute, Vidhi Sharma on vocals, DJ Jayant on electornics, Johan Pais on bass and Warren ‘Blackstratblues‘ Mendonsa on guitars. Kale handled percussion duties on the tabla, drums and also played the keys and managed vocal duties. The band also performed an interesting medley of two Blackstratblues songs – ‘Ode To A Sunny Day’ and ‘Newness’. A personal highlight of the otherwise mellow set was the performance of ‘Sacred Science’, the song that Kale composed on The Dewarists (watch the episode here) with Baiju Dharmajan (ex-Motherjane and ex-Wrenz United) and Njeralathu Harigovindan, a master of the edakka drum.
Gems from the audience during the set included, “Karsh Kale roxx!” and “Karsh Bhai, you have it within it!”
Karsh Kale @ York Live Festival, Nasik
Photos by Naman Saraiya. Stay tuned for a full gallery of photos.
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