The Deutsche Philharmonie Merck

Another item ticked off my Bucket List. Watched a symphony live - The Deutsche Philharmonie Merck - at Chowdaiah Hall. 60 minutes of sheer musical brilliance!

Though I hadn't even heard before any of the pieces except two, they were all quite enthralling. Of the two I recognized, one was Brahms' Hungarian dance while I couldn't quite place the other one. The revelation of the day was "Leonore Overture No 3" by Beethoven. (I found out this later from the press release). Was quite an evening and the hall was crowded with people standing on either sides and even sitting in the aisle. Good that we got the passes (thanks to Sunil) and managed to reach the venue quite early to grab some seats!

Violins for peace..

2011 is already on a song. Its hardly a week into it and I have already attended a concert and has another three scheduled over the next one month or so! Don't think I can complain even in my worst nightmares. Apart from the Bryan Adams one in Feb, every other looks pretty offbeat and interesting as well. 'Violins for Peace' last Thursday wasn't any different either. It was this year's edition of the Lakshminarayana Global Music Festival(LGMF) featuring violinists and fiddlers from different parts of the world. LGMF is organised by Dr. L Subramaniam in the memory of his father and Guru Prof. Lakshminarayana.

I reached the venue just in time and wasn't surprised to see that the hall is packed and the organizers had ran out of passes. There were quite a few people waiting outside the entrance, including some very elderly folks. After some persuasion, the organizers finally allowed us to enter and occupy the floor. This seating arrangement was in fact much comfortable than the chairs, as I could stretch my legs and lean on to the wall. The only trouble was that I couldn't see one half of the stage for quite some time as there were people standing around blocking the view. But the experience was well worth the trouble!

- There was an old lady (must be in her eighties) sitting next to me, wearing a fine silk Saree, holding a walking stick in one hand and tapping enthusiastically to the tunes of the Russian gypsy music much like she did for the Carnatic classical songs. Though she gave me the looks initially when I sat beside her on the floor in my jeans and black T Shirt, she was all smiles by the end of the concert.

- The start attraction of the evening was the Russian gypsy band 'Loyko', who entertained the crowd with their fast fiddling and vocals. They could literally make the violins laugh as part of this comedy act they performed between songs.

- Ambi Subramaniam's violin recital of 'Varumo Sakhi' in raaga Keeravani was just brilliant.

- The Norwegian folk songs played by Benedicte, with the accompanied dancing reminded me of 'Pulluvan Paattu', an art form prevalent in Kerala , performed to appease the snake gods.

- There was this minister who was invited as chief guest, who made an ass of himself by announcing cash prizes for the artists every time he was invited on stage. For him this was yet another opportunity to show off or perhaps he was sure that they will never turn up in front of his office demanding the money!

- Something should be done about the people who occupy seats and leave after 10 minutes. These idiots come, buy tickets, parade outside the venue in their designer clothes and walk out by the time the artists are done with the tuning. If you are not really interested why waste a ticket dude?

- And I don't want to comment on those who wear sun glasses during an indoor concert at 7 in the evening.

- There were also performances by Grammy winner jazz violinist Mark O'Connor, classical violinist Catharina Chen and Algerian violinist Kheir Eddine M'Kachiche

- The grand finale was a composition by Dr. L Balasubramaniam, performed by 7 violinists with the accompaniment of a piano, acoustic guitar, tavil and mridangam.

- Outside the concert hall I found a shop selling 'Melody' toffees. As a kid this used to be my favorite toffee. (it still is). I bought enough to last a few months!

There is a fusion concert by Esperanto and an insane evening with The Prodigy on the cards this month. 2011 is rocking!

Oktoberfest 2009

It is that time of the year again, when you have another excuse to sit under the open skies in the night, get drunk, and watch live music - Oktoberfest. The 'emperor of good times' had arranged three days of pure fun at Palace grounds with over over 15 bands performing live. Some of the best live acts in India representing different genres of music, some good beer in different flavors and some of the finest babes in different attires or lack of them! What more can you ask for in three days time? There was something for everyone, from acoustic performances to Jazz to Hindi pop to Fusion music to Hard rock and extreme metal.

There was an entry fee this year and that kind of ensured that only people interested in music and beer joined the party. There was a huge expat crowd as well, making the best of the opportunity to have some beer in peace - without the 11 o'clock deadline or the moral police. Ministry of Blues were on to their third or fourth song by the time I reached the venue on Friday night. I had heard a lot about this Blues Rock band from Bangalore and the next few songs made me realize that the press do occasionally say the truth. They were awesome! After MOB, it was Avial on the main stage and the mallu crowd was already in place to support them. In fact, this time the mallu influence was prominent with Avial, Thermal And A Quarter, Evergreen & Motherjane.

A heavy dose of music and a couple of beers can do wonders, that I decided to walk the 6 kilometers back home, at 12 in the night. I know it might sound crazy, but at times there is some fun in this craziness. How can I tell what fun it is to walk the streets in the night, talking to yourself or singing your favorite songs, while a few vehicles drive past without even realizing that you are having a good time. By the time I reached home, I was hungry enough to eat a half-cooked elephant, but all I had at home were a few peanuts. So I had dinner with masala peanuts and black tea.. you can't have the best of everything..right?

All that I did on Saturday before rushing back to the venue was taking a bath and grabbing some snacks to fill my stomach... yes, I woke up by 10 o' clock only. I did not want to miss any of the action, but the bands were not even done with their sound checks by the time I reached there. We were a small group of 10 people sitting and watching the Raghu Dixit Project setting the stage. I don't know whether its the beer, but Raghu decided to play a few songs for the 'early birds'! Anyway it was good to sit under the afternoon sun, sipping some beer and listening to an exclusive concert by RDP. Check out the video below!

You never feel lonely at a place like this and the ten people who came there as strangers were now swinging their body in unison, sharing the beer and the smokes! The first act of the day was an acoustic duo 'Collin & Charles' who played some great songs; Simon & Garfunkel, Carpenters, Don Williams, Bellamy Brothers and what not. It was a shame to see a really low turnout for this one at the indoor stage. The rest of Day 2 rocked with Parachute XVI, Infernal Wrath, RDP and finally KK. I had company by late evening and it was fun dancing with Ron later in the night to DJ-Chico's beats!

On Day 3 of the fest, the lineup was so good and I was sure that I will miss at least one of the shows. Collin & Charles again started off the event with some Cuban, Spanish, Mexican and Italian songs. Evergreen was the next act, one of my new favorites, from Cochin. They play some awesome melodic hard rock and the sound is quite distinct from the 'regular' alternative outfits. I am not sure whether Motherjane performed on the main stage or not, but it didn't really matter as Amit Heri band was performing on the indoor stage. If listening to rock gives you an adrenaline rush, listening to jazz is like pure ecstasy! Amit Heri is the only one Indian artist who has performed in all the major Jazz festivals in the world. His four piece band lived up to the expectations and the small crowd cried for more once they stopped. TAAQ performed on the main stage after this, followed by the much awaited Indian Ocean. Nobody was sure Indian Ocean is going to perform as their drummer, Asheem Chakravarthy, had suffered a serious heart attack a few days back. In spite of this incident, they managed to put together an excellent show.. kudos to the spirit!

After three days of music and fun, the immediate thought that came to my mind was a visit to the church. I had done more sins in the last three days than the rest of my life put together, that I badly needed a confession to clean up the slate! At times, with so much of color around and a little bit of alcohol inside, my eyes and mind act like they have a life of their own.. can't really blame them though!

Click for more pictures of the fest !

Music as we don't know it..

What if "The Eagles" or "Fleetwood Mac" were not a small group but a crowd of 50.. and if "Desperado" and "Rhiannon" were recorded in a school auditorium and not in a recording studio...? if you can take this and never mind all the imperfections and lack of sound quality resulting from the above arrangement, but care only for the raw energy a group performance can deliver, this is for you..

The first time I heard a song from "Innocence & Despair" by "The Langley Schools Music Project" was about an year ago, while I was experimenting with the then newly discovered "Pandora". The song was too different to ignore... a group of school children performing "Sweet Caroline" by Neil Diamond. There was something about the song that was so captivating. It also brought to mind memories of school days, when we used to sing songs together during the Music hour.. the fun and pleasure of singing at the top of your voice. The outcome always used to be great, with all the odd sounds nullifying each other (perhaps) resulting in a perfect rendering. I always liked the feeling of listening to a chorus with so many overtones, quite distinct from one another and this one song suddenly brought all that back to the present. You can hear 'Sweet Caroline' here.

"Innocence & Despair" is the result of some experimental work done by a music teacher, Hans Fenger, who taught music in the Langley school in British Columbia. Occasionally he would record his students in the school gymnasium...elaborate affairs involving more than 60 kids per session...performing their favorite 60s and 70s hits as if they never heard the originals..!! These recordings were never done for commercial purpose and you can feel the elementary school kids singing their heart out, in each of the songs. You can here some of the tracks here: http://www.myspace.com/langschool.

There is something eerie about these renderings that can make you uneasy at times.. probably because music at its purest form, devoid of any studio gimmicks can be quite touching. Inspite of the poor sound quality, you will notice the sweetness of "Sweet Caroline" and the melancholy of "Desperado".

If you beleive that there is music beyond six track recording and electronic loops, if you want to experience the overpowering energy of a chorus, this is one record worth trying..!! Evenif the songs are out of key at places, and the beats go out of synch occassionaly, who cares.. its music and its bliss..!!

A Rocking weekend..!!!

What goes well with winter nights? Nothing better than Rock 'n' Roll and beer i feel. That almost sums up the last one week here at Bangalore. The city has been rocking hard the past weekend to the tune of all the musical heavyweights who descended for the Bangalore Habba, the yearly cultural festival of Bangalore. Music and dance events were happening at venues across the city and the best ones were obviously being staged at the palace grounds which literally became my home for about a week.

The Bangalore band 'Slain' was the star attraction of day one. The lead singer of the band had a pretty amazing voice and about 100 people who turned out for the show were treated to some of their own compositions. Some friend of the band were distributing business cards amongst the crowd while they performed. To my amazement, the card had no contact details, but the URL to their Myspace profile. I was impressed to see that social networking has reached all together new planes these days. I was but disappointed the next day to see that they had just one friend on their shabbily done profile page. Well begun is not always half done..!!

The second day saw Synapse, Lounge Piranha and Karma-6 performing one after the other. Synapse had a pretty tight set and did deliver the goods. Lounge Piranha stuck to their usual set of songs and they seemed to be a little less excited than usual about the gig. I could not watch Karma-6 but was eager to get back for the next day. Friday evening we had L Subramaniam and his son with their awesome carnatic classical performance. Then came the much awaited event of the day - Parikrama. They showed the crowd why they are still the best rock band in the country. The crowd was ecstatic when they belted out songs of Iron Maiden, Korn along with their own compositions. The violinist 'Imran Khan' soon became the crowd's favorite with his swift violin solos, especially 'Open Skies'. The temperature had dropped to 14-15 degree C, but the crowd warmed up to the music pretty quick. Kingfisher, one of the event sponsors had set up beer parlors in the ground which also fueled the enthusiasm.

Saturday started with Toufiq Quereshi and his band, followed by a performance by 'Bandish' - the hindi rock band from Mumbai. But the real attraction of the day was 'Pentagram'. If Parikrama rocked the day before, Pentagram stepped up the tempo yet another notch. This was the liveliest show I've ever been to. The band interacted with the crowd pretty well and soon everyone was jumping up and down to the beats, and the night ended with the powerful rendering of their popular composition 'Voices'. This song has become the theme song for the 'Anti-reservation' movement and the band made it a point to voice their opinion against reservations in this country. Good to see somebody using their mass influence for a good cause.

Sunday was 'THE' day, with 'America' playing live at the Palace Grounds. I was all thrilled from the moment I heard that they will be here. They are one of my favorite soft Rock bands of all time. Listen to 'Definitive America' and you will understand what I am talking about. Kadri Gopinath and Ronu Majumdar were having a Flute-Sax jugalbandi at one end of the ground the same time, but I chose to go with 'America'. Trust me they rocked...!!! The crowd turnout was poor but the band belted out many of their hit singles, to the delight of those were around. They also sang couple of songs from their upcoming album - their 21st release in fact...!!

Its not all over yet.. 'Scorpions' are playing here next sunday evening. I hope I will be able to stand the excitement..!!

The Scorpions in concert....

I am not quite sure why I did not write about the Scorpions concert so far. Anyway, better late than never. The Gods of rock(no offense to the other divine bands out there) visited Bangalore during the third week of December, the last stop of their 'Humanity' world tour. I am so glad that I did not miss the chance to watch them in concert, it was worth many times the money I spent on tickets..!!

The turnout was not great.. at least not as much as I expected in a music-aware city like Bangalore. Irrespective of the numbers, the atmosphere was electric at Palace grounds.. the excitement quite visible. The sound system was creating enough noise with those advertisements from sponsors of the event. Every time the opening tabs of 'Winds of Change' came up as filler between the ads, the crowd went crazy whistling and howling. As I reached the place pretty early, I had enough time to look around and watch people. It was good to see so many crazy metalheads at one place. Quite a few things caught my attention (apart from the beautiful babes around).

There was this guy with a broken leg, on crutches, barely able to walk but hanging on to a true friend's shoulders. He definitely deserves a 101 on Passion & enthusiasm..!! Then there was the 'Powerhorse' advertisement playing on one of the giant screens. It showed an empty glass with a bent straw in it. As some 'powerhorse' is poured into the glass, the straw slowly straightens.. good for an energy drink advertisement...right? To pass time, I decided to check out the food stalls inside the ground. Most of the stuff were heavily priced and I ended up buying just a coffee. While I was standing there, a boy and a girl came to pick up some snacks. The girl asked the price of some hot samosas and I could see the boy almost licking his lips in anticipation of the treat. The Samosas were priced at Rs. 25 for two. After hearing the price, the girl just turned around and left the place. The boy intercepted her and said 'Lets buy one plate, didi'. She gave him a stare and said "Are you mad? Two samosas for 25..? You will get 10 for that price outside". Better sense prevails...eh..? Girls always seem to have a firm grip on common sense.. unlike some guys like me and that boy..!!

About 30 minutes from the announced time, Klaus Meine finally came on stage with his band and said 'Namaste'. I cannot explain how I felt when I saw those guys up close personal on stage... not anymore just a voice I recognize. Without wasting much time the band started off with the classic 'Holiday'...."Let me take you far away.. you'd like a holiday..." You bet we all did...!!Reminded me of something that I read recently - "What do we need music to do? Take us to that wonderful land in our head and the place in our heart?" - A round-trip ticket is what the Scorpions offered.

For an hour and half the band enthralled all with their energetic performance. The playlist for the night was a mixture of old hits like 'Still Loving You', 'Under the same sun', 'The Zoo' and songs from their latest 'Humanity' album. The new numbers '123' and 'humanity' were standard scorpion stuff - beautiful melodic ballads with a heavy metal twist. The song delivery was so perfect that the live performance was as good as the studio recordings. Klaus Mein was busy throwing drum sticks & guitar picks into the crowd and would have thrown at least a hundred sticks during the night's show. Everyone frantically tried to grab one of them... a memorabilia from the concert..!!

But we were shocked when the band abruptly said 'Goodnight' and left the stage about an hour into the concert. But the despair soon turned into delight as James Kottak and Pawel took the stage for some solo performances. James unleashed the beast inside him onto the drums accompanied by some funny expressions and antics. Soon the rest of the band joined them to sing some of the crowd favorites - Winds of Change, Rock you like a Hurricane and Send me and Angel. And finally when they stopped everybody wanted a little more of it. But great things in life wont last long and it was time to carry the memories home.