narenmusic

BY NARENDRA KUSNUR  Jon Batiste/ Live in Mumbai Genre : Multiple  Organised by : BookMyShow  Details : NMACC Grand Theatre, November 26 Rating : **** 1/2 What on earth did that grand piano drink before the show began at the NMACC Grand Theatre on Wednesday night? Over two hours, it sang like Freddie Mercury, danced like John Travolta, charmed like Robert Redford and sprinted like Usain Bolt. It played the blues, Beethoven, jazz, rock n' roll, soul, hip-hop, half the history of western music, switching from genre to genre like a slithering snake. Clearly, American star Jon Batiste was in another cosmos, adding his trademark vocals and a magic spell on the melodica to that piano wizardry. This was pure music, and it needed no classification, no branding. What was remarkable was that for most part of the show, he was alone on stage, with sitar player Megha Rawoot joining towards the end. And despite a somewhat inconsistent second half, marred by adventurous experimenting, h...

BY NARENDRA KUSNUR Alif // Char-su Genre : Kashmiri/ Urdu rock Details : NMACC Studio. November 20 Rating : **** I had seen Kashmiri singer-songwriter Alif at the Mahindra Roots Festival at the Bandra Amphitheatre in Mumbai in early 2023. That was a compact set, and I was hearing him the first time. As such, his performance at the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre (NMACC) Studio on Thursday November 20 was more elaborate and gave him a chance to present the range of his repertoire. Titled Alif // Char-su , it was divided into four segments - Charsuu, Arzuu, Rafuu and Lahuu. As such, it was a thematic show. Alif sings in Urdu, Hindi and his native Kashmiri, using a lot of poetry that he's penned himself. The live set had a more rock-oriented approach compared to his studio recordings, with Tanmay Pawar on electric guitar, Aditya Bhandakkar on keys, Nikhil Nair on bass and Karan Chitra Deshmukh on drums, ghatam, rap and vocal harmonies. For two hours, Alif displayed marvellous expr...

BY NARENDRA KUSNUR  The Yellow Diary/ Yun Hi Kahin Label: Self-released  Rating; **** Rajan Batra, vocalist of The Yellow Diary, has a distinct voice and singing style. Accompanied by a tight band, he charms again on the group's latest single 'Yun Hi Kahin'. Kalpit Vora's video is about two childhood friends, played by Roohi Devgan and Suhani Mardia, who hope the warmth of the early days will return. Batra sings, "Yun hi kahin meri raahon mein tu phirse aana, yun hi tera sahi laage nahin door jaana". Joining the action are Himanshu Parikh on keys, Harshvardhan Gadhvi on guitars, Stuart D'Costa on bass and Sahil Shah on drums. Another smooth leaf in the Yellow Diary page. Umair & Maaidah/ Jaana Label: InHouse Rating: *** 1/2 On first impression, the Pakistani brother-sister duo of Umair Saleem and Maaidah reminds one of Zoheb and Nazia Hassan. Even the basic sound and dance-friendly video are throwbacks to the 1980s disco-pop era. But the similarity end...

BY NARENDRA KUSNUR  Various artistes/ Humsaaz Genre : Traditional Indian Presented by : Aadyam Handwoven  Rating : **** An initiative of the Aditya Birla Group, Aadyam Handwoven aims at preserving and promoting India's handwoven heritage, working with artisan communities across Bhuj, Bhadohi–Mirzapur, Garhwal, Kashmir, Pochampally and Varanasi. Drawing a link between handweaving and India"s cultural heritage, it has launched the album Humsaaz , featuring a mix of vocal and instrumental numbers using colour and shades as motifs. The album focuses on traditional styles, going with the rich legacy of Indian textiles. After Aadyam Handwoven business head Manish Saksena introduces the concept, saying heritage lives in music too, Swanand Kirkire recites his poem 'Sunehre Sapne', with 'sunehra' representing gold in the colour spectrum. "Dhaaga dhaaga jod ke hum, Jeevan ki chadariya bun laaye, yaadon ki sandookchi khol ke hum, chalo sapne suhehre chun laaye"...

BY NARENDRA KUSNUR Steven Wilson/ Live in Mumbai Genre : Progressive rock Details , Nesco Grounds, Goregaon, November 3 Promoter : Live Box Rating : **** 1/2 As luck would have it, it didn't rain in Goregaon on Monday evening. Maybe the rain gods wanted to have an overview of the concert taking place at the Nesco Grounds below, as British musician Steven Wilson began his India leg of The Overview tour. The crowd was considerably smaller than the one that paid twice the amount to see Enrique Iglesias lip-sync at the MMRDA grounds a few days ago. But they surely got their money's worth as Wilson's 135-minute set, break excluded, dazzled with scintillating live performance, aided by pitch-perfect multi-channel sound and Imax-equivalent visual effects. Wilson had come earlier with his progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, playing at IIT Mumbai and as a solo act at NH7 Weekender. The current visit is part of an international tour to promote his latest solo album The Overview , ...

BY NARENDRA KUSNUR  Enrique Iglesias/ Live in Mumbai Genre : Pop/ Latino-pop Details : MMRDA grounds, Bandra Kurla Complex, October 29 and 309 Presented by : Eva Live Rating : ** 1/2 As he proved at his shows at the MMRDA grounds in Bandra Kurla Complex on October 29 and 30, Enrique Iglesias has some special talents. His voice can have the same volume whether his microphone is close to his lips or three feet away, or whether it's perched safely on its stand as he's dancing some 10 feet away. He can also trick the cameraman to show he's singing high notes on the giant screen when his mouth is shut.  Most of the audience, of course, didn't notice this brilliant improvisation of the art of ventriloqu-lipism. They had come to party, and a party is what they got. They had come to dance, and dance is what they did. The ladies in their early 40s wanted to remember their first real-life crush, and they did that secretly. They had come to sing along with their 'Hero', a...