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BY NARENDRA KUSNUR The Stop-Gaps Cultural Academy/ On The Big Beautiful Musical Path Featured artistes : Compere Asif Ali Beg, singers Sharon Prabhakar, Delna Mody, Marie Paul, conductors Alfred J. D'Souza, Premila Coutinho  Genre : Musical theatre/ choral performance  Details : St Andrew's Auditorium, September 12 Rating : **** Mumbai's music theatre lovers were just about recovering from the NMACC Grand Theatre performances of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats when another group of felines crossed their path. On September 12, the Stop-Gaps Cultural Academy had a Broadway-themed evening at St Andrew's Auditorium, beginning with a three-song medley from the famed musical. Appropriately, the show was titled On The Big Beautiful Musical Path . The main choral ensemble was conducted by Alfred D'Souza, chairman of the academy. Dressed in cat costumes for the opening piece, the actors moved their whiskers and paws under a makeshift moon to the songs 'Jellicle Bal...

BY NARENDRA KUSNUR  Euphoria/ Koi Naa Language & genre: Hindi/ Punjabi, folk-rock Label: Self-released  Rating: *** 1/2 There was a time when Hindrock band Euphoria ruled the music channels, with songs like 'Dhoom Pichuk Dhoom' and 'Maaeri'. Vocalist Dr Palash Sen and the band are back with the folk-rock piece 'Koi Na'. The video, featuring Preeti Verma, shows Palash beginning in a disappointed manner with music labels rejecting his work. But he decides to record something on his own and embarks on a journey. The song features guitarists Adil Rashid and Aditya Shankar Benia, bassist DJ Bhaduri and drummer Prashant Trivedi. The song has a nice folk-rock feel with inputs from the Nazar Pandhar Group. It's the video song from the new Euphoria album Dhoomsday . And it's got the band's trademark sound. Antariksh feat. Rahul Ram & Rohan Prasanna/ Dil Ki Aawaaz Language & genre; Hindi, pop-rock  Label: Self-released  Rating: **** Fronted by Varu...

BY NARENDRA KUSNUR  Showcase/ Soundscapes of India Season 3 Genre : Multiple  Details : Dr Ambedkar International Centre, New Delhi, August 29-31 Presenters : Indian Performing Right Society (IPRS) with curation by MusiConnect India in collaboration with Ministry of Culture  Pictures (top to bottom): Dobom Doji Collective, Harini Iyer of Tamil Jazz Collective, Ngartini Huang of Indonesia, the line-up  There were the known names, and there were the unfamiliar ones. There was rock from Ladakh, abhangs from Maharashtra, Carnatic encounters with jazz, tribal stories from Nagaland, heady folk-fusion sounds from different corners of India. Soundscapes of India Season 3, held in New Delhi's Dr Ambedkar International Centre from August 29 to 31, was largely used as a means to showcase talent from across India. While the live performances took place at night, the days were filled with interesting panel discussions, intense workshops and pitching sessions, where artistes inter...

BY NARENDRA KUSNUR  Music conference/ All About Music X Presented by : TM Management with help from thumpN Details : Grand Hyatt, Santa Cruz, August 25 to 27 The much-awaited All About Music conference had its 10th edition at the Grand Hyatt, Santa Cruz, from August 25 to 27. Over the years, it has been an important part of the industry calendar, providing insights on the state of affairs and a platform for networking. Months of planning and hard work obviously go behind its execution.  Yet, it's always had its limitations because too much is happening simultaneously. Like every year, there were panel discussions, conversations and artiste pitches in the three ballrooms, workshops and how-to-do-it sessions in another corner, performances somewhere else and the popular 'Connect Corner' in an another spot. Not to talk of a sizeable bunch who didn't attend any of them, preferring to make fresh contacts in the main lounge. Many of the sessions this year dropped the term ...

BY NARENDRA KUSNUR  Greg Banaszak Trio Genre : Jazz  Details : Experimental Theatre, August 22 Rating: **** 1/2 Joe Alvares with Gino Banks & Friends Genre : Vocal jazz Details : Prithvi Theatre, August 23 Rating : **** Two venues hosting jazz concerts in Mumbai had contrasting types of audiences over the weekend. Senior citizens were prominent at the Experimental Theatre, NCPA, where saxophonist Greg Banaszak played with his trio on Saturday evening. The following morning, a sizeable number of youngsters were seen at the Prithvi Theatre, where veteran singer Joe Alvares performed with musicians much younger than him. On the one hand, it was a good sign to indicate that jazz appeals to different generations, at least in Mumbai. Both the shows were dominated by standards and older jazz tunes, with a few originals thrown in. But what one observed is a marked difference in the way the audience responded. The older crowd at the Experimental applauded spontaneously after every ...

BY NARENDRA KUSNUR  Ronojit Bhuyan & Giacomo Tora/ Resonances Genre : Western classical piano Details : The Cube, NMACC, August 20 Rating : **** Pianists Ronojit Bhuyan and Giacomo Tora (on left in picture) met while studying at London's Trinity Labon Conservatory of Music & Dance. After becoming friends, they decided to form a musical partnership. One thing led to another, and on Thursday, they performed several pieces individually before coming together on a fresh arrangement involving four hands. The show was called Resonances and the venue was the Cube theatre of the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre, Mumbai. The repertoire comprised a good mix of baroque music, Romantic Era pieces, a waltz and French impressionist compositions. And the audience was in for a surprise when Giacomo played a piano version of Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy's Hindi film song 'Kal Ho Naa Ho'. And for the four-hand finale، the young Italian pianist had composed a piano arrangement of A.R. Ra...