The second performance I caught at the Kalaa Utsavam was Delhi based fusion band Advaita.
What can I say, they were interesting enough to warrant shelling out $10 for a (seemingly) baked-at-home copy of their CD.
For all their 'psychedelic' labelling, Advaita's true strength is their firm rooting in Hindustani music- the strong vocals, the sarangi and the tabla, are what delight you between the standard guitar-drum sound of a college rock band. Of course, a very good college rock band, but a college rock band nevertheless.
A lot of inspired sounds- a little bit of U2, some Strings, some Floyd, some Euphoria (remember them? I miss them) some Devin Townsend Project, but this milieu is raised to nearly ethereal levels when Ujwal Nagar, the vocalist, gets on with his aalaap and the mini-ustad Suhail Yusuf Khan (he's twenty years old damnit!) scratches on the sarangi.
So all those erratic musical influences you hear growing up in India in the 90's, start to mingle here - you know, the tapes and records of your parents' youth (I mean Floyd and Led Zep, not Boney M), your first U2 album, the sound of that Pakistani rockband that was so much at home in MTV India, you didn't even think of them as Pakistani- all of this resonating at some level with the classical music you heard at a concert you were dragged to with the adults or the strum and beat of that sitar/tabla you learnt to play as a kid.
This is by no means, a small feat. True to their name, Advaita succeeds in wrapping contrasting musical elements into a single, spirited Indian sound so effectively, that you go, 'Ah! This is both familiar and new!' I personally prefer Indian Ocean in this respect, but hey, the more the merrier.
There's got to be people to do this. Else you loose the best of your cultural heritage, which tends to be too heavy and too loaded to be absolutely attractive to the youth on its own, to the relieving effects of pure pop, aka trash. Either that, or you just participate in and borrow from the cultural treasury of the West. They always do a great job of preserving their past and then letting it morph under the zeitgeist, making it palatable for the next generation.
Anyway, Advaita performed to a PACKED house at the Esplanade Outdoor Theatre on Friday, the 27th. They were good enough to get the crowd chanting along with them towards the end. Great music and great performance. You can listen to their music here. Alternately, if you live around here you can ask me for a copy. Its not piracy, YET.
What can I say, they were interesting enough to warrant shelling out $10 for a (seemingly) baked-at-home copy of their CD.
For all their 'psychedelic' labelling, Advaita's true strength is their firm rooting in Hindustani music- the strong vocals, the sarangi and the tabla, are what delight you between the standard guitar-drum sound of a college rock band. Of course, a very good college rock band, but a college rock band nevertheless.
A lot of inspired sounds- a little bit of U2, some Strings, some Floyd, some Euphoria (remember them? I miss them) some Devin Townsend Project, but this milieu is raised to nearly ethereal levels when Ujwal Nagar, the vocalist, gets on with his aalaap and the mini-ustad Suhail Yusuf Khan (he's twenty years old damnit!) scratches on the sarangi.
So all those erratic musical influences you hear growing up in India in the 90's, start to mingle here - you know, the tapes and records of your parents' youth (I mean Floyd and Led Zep, not Boney M), your first U2 album, the sound of that Pakistani rockband that was so much at home in MTV India, you didn't even think of them as Pakistani- all of this resonating at some level with the classical music you heard at a concert you were dragged to with the adults or the strum and beat of that sitar/tabla you learnt to play as a kid.
This is by no means, a small feat. True to their name, Advaita succeeds in wrapping contrasting musical elements into a single, spirited Indian sound so effectively, that you go, 'Ah! This is both familiar and new!' I personally prefer Indian Ocean in this respect, but hey, the more the merrier.
There's got to be people to do this. Else you loose the best of your cultural heritage, which tends to be too heavy and too loaded to be absolutely attractive to the youth on its own, to the relieving effects of pure pop, aka trash. Either that, or you just participate in and borrow from the cultural treasury of the West. They always do a great job of preserving their past and then letting it morph under the zeitgeist, making it palatable for the next generation.
Anyway, Advaita performed to a PACKED house at the Esplanade Outdoor Theatre on Friday, the 27th. They were good enough to get the crowd chanting along with them towards the end. Great music and great performance. You can listen to their music here. Alternately, if you live around here you can ask me for a copy. Its not piracy, YET.
U do get around don't you? Still awaiting your feedback on the stories.
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