narenmusic

BY NARENDRA KUSNUR  Shakura S'Aida and Sugaray Rayford/ NCPA Soulful Blues festival  Genre : Blues, soul, rhythm n' blues Presented by: National Centre for the Performing Arts  Details ; Tata Theatre, March 29 and 30 Rating ; **** 1/2 One was yet to recover from the March 27 Def Leppard concert at the Jio World Garden, when one experienced two nights of incredible magic at the Tata Theatre. The NCPA Soulful Blues festival may have had far fewer attendees, but what a weekend it was. Both artistes - Canadian singer Shakura S'Aida on the opening night and American artiste Sugaray Rayford on Sunday - displayed loads of energy and plenty of interaction with the audience. Shakura's performance boasted of some unbelievable vocals, with 'Modern Love' containing the kind of phrasing and control one hasn't too often. Sugaray's performance was dominated by originals, but his band suddenly surprised everyone with a stupendous version of Pink Floyd's 'Comfort...

BY NARENDRA KUSNUR Def Leppard/ Live in Mumbai Genre : Rock Presented by : BookMyShow Live Details : Jio World Garden, March 27 Rating : **** At rock shows from another era, the 'encore' had its own charm. The band would thank everyone and leave the stage, and the audience would yell for more, screaming out a few requests. There was some drama and lots of enthusiasm, before huge cheers engulfed the venue when the musicians returned. All this didn't happen at Def Leppard's show at Jio Garden on Friday. The audience stood in their places, knowing the band would return any way. They knew the set list would be similar to the one from their Shillong show, and it didn't require a genius to predict they would play 'Hysteria' and 'Pour Some Sugar For Me' before the final goodbye. Yet, this was where vocalist Joe Elliott sprang a surprise. "Walk away if you want to, it's okay if you need too", Elliott sang, solo with his guitar. This wasn't...

BY NARENDRA KUSNUR Various artistes/ Jazz City original soundtrack Genre : Bengali OTT series music/ jazz, regional Label : Sony Music  Rating : *** 1/2 In a sophisticated Calcutta nightspot, the resident vocalist Pamela sings lines like "The city of jazz, the city that moans" and "The winter's warming up, come on fill up your cup, a little bebop, a little bebop tonight". The piano and brass are very typical of the jazz sound of the late 1960s. However, while the soundtrack of the Sony LIV Bengali language series Jazz City may appear like it's dominated by jazz, the truth is that the genre forms only half of the song-list. Director Soumik Sen's narrative is based on events that led to the formation of Bangladesh in 1971, and the Jazz City here refers to a popular (and fictional) club frequented by Calcutta's rich and famous. Hence, a good chunk of the music also comprises traditional Bengali songs, with a few penned by maestro Rabindranath Tagore. T...

BY NARENDRA KUSNUR BombayMami/ Gulabi Mantra Language & genre: English, pop/ RnB Label: MNRK Records Rating: *** 1/2 Indo-Swiss singer BombayMami made news last year with her single 'Fire In Delhi'. She is now due to release her debut album Peaceful Attitude next month. As part of the build-up, she has released 'Gulabi Mantra' to mark International Women's Day on March 8. The song is nspired by the women's collective Gulabi Gang, known for standing up against violence and injustice. The motif, therefore, is the line, "My body, my voice, my kitty, my choice". The song is backed by a well-choreographed video using pink as its theme. Director Aron Randhawa and choreographer Divya Nebel bring the best out of the tune. BombayMami's voice has that smoky club feel, which balances contemporary rhythm n' blues with an innate desi aura. Looking out for the rest of the album. Malvika/ online/irl (EP) Language & genre: English, pop Label: Self-rel...

BY NARENDRA KUSNUR Gorillaz/ The Mountain Genre : Synth-pop/ multi-genre Label : Kong Record rating : *** Video rating: ***** The brainchild of English musician Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett, virtual band Gorillaz is known for creating music spanning a variety of genres using mutiplie collaborations by its 'members' Murdoc, Russel, 2D and Noodle. Its latest album The Mountain features a host of Indian artistes like singers Asha Bhosle and Asha Puthli, sitar exponent Anoushka Shankar, sarod brothers Amaan and Ayaan Ali Bangash and flautist Ajay Prasanna. To add to the Indianness, the cover has the word 'Parvat' in Devanagari script. Though Indian instruments are used on many tracks, only a couple of songs are strong on Indian melody. The opening title track has wonderful bansuri by Ajay and a recording of late actor Dennis Hopper's voice, and 'The Shadowy Light' features Hindi vocals by Asha Bhosle, alternated with English lines by Welsh vocalist Gru...

  BY NARENDRA KUSNUR 49 Strings - An Indian String Quartet Artistes : Ambi Subramaniam, Mehtab Ali Niazi, Eklash Khan Langa, Dare Khan Manganiyar, Akshay Ananthapadmanabhan, Latif Khan Presented by ; Reliance Foundation  Details : NMACC Studio, March 8 Rating ; **** We've seen plenty of Hindustani and Carnatic jugalbandis, and also many folk-fusion concerts. Here was a unique blend of north and south Indian elements with Rajasthani folk. 49 Strings , held at the NMACC Studio on Sunday, was spearheaded by composer and violinist Ambi Subramaniam. who represented the Carnatic segments. There were four stringed instruments - the number of strings, we guess, added up to 49. Mehtab Ali Niazi played sitar in the Hindustani style, and there were desert-folk contributions by Eklash Khan Langa on sarangi and Dare Khan Manganiyar on kamaicha. The combination of three bowed pieces and one plucked instrument provided a charming mix. For the percussion, two double-headed drums were used -...