A four-day diary of a music journalist over six gigs

BY NARENDRA KUSNUR 

What happened at six events from August 3 to 6. A diary

Once again, I've decided to take a week-long break from concerts, just to get some rest or to do something else. The problem is that in a city like Mumbai, that rarely happens. If you're a music journalist or a diehard aficionado following different genres, the challenges are bigger.

Over the past year, things are happening almost daily, with organisers and musicians making up for the Pandemic slowdown. A lot of gigs clash too, making the attendee's choice difficult. With the new Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre (NMACC) having regular shows since April, the concertgoer has one more venue on the crowded list.

To come back to my planned breaks, I had decided the same thing a week ago. But from Thursday night, I was up and about, attending six gigs in four days. The best thing is that I'm not complaining, as there was so much variety and great music. So here's a lowdown on the performances - five public shows and one private gathering.

Chandresh Kudwa feat. Gino Banks & Mohini Dey/ The Stables, Andheri East, August 3 (jazz-rock, guitarwork):  I've seen guitarist Chandresh play early in his career two decades ago. I remember a show at Not Just Jazz By The Bay, Churchgate, when he did all those Hendrixian stage acts like playing with his teeth or with his guitar behind his head.

For some inexplicable reason, I hadn't seen him for a while, though he has been playing with drummer Gino and bassist Mohini quite often. This time, I had to go. As expected it was a fabulous set, featuring some brilliant originals like 'Days Of Isolation', 'Cappucino Queen', 'Conqueror' and 'Disco Chicken'. Covers of Jimi Hendrix's 'Purple Haze' and Joe Satriani's 'Summer Song', and adaptations of The Godfather and Mission Impossible themes provided variety. Gino and Mohini had some outstanding solos, making it a great evening, which also featured opening act Sai Hek and a short appearance by Chandresh's young daughter Eva on vocals and guitar.

Shades Of Malhar by Ronu Majumdar & Ratish Tagde/ NMACC Studio, BKC, August 4 (Hindustani classical): It's that time of the year when there are many thematic concerts around rain. In Shades Of Malhar, flautist Majumdar and violinist Tagde focused on variants of raag Malhar.

Naturally they began with the popular Miyan Ki Malhar, an elaborate piece with alaap, jod and two compositions. Pakhawaj player Ganesh Sawant joined on the jod, and tabla exponent Aditya Kalyanpur came in on the first conposition in rupak taal. The jugalbandi between bansuri and violin was fabulous, with Ronu using bamboo flutes of different sizes. The rhythm interaction at the end added to the fare.

The musicians followed up with three short pieces in Megh, Jayant Malhar (blending Jaijaiwanti and Malhar) and Surdasi Malhar (Sarang and Malhar). In a pleasant surprise, they presented the bhajan 'Raghupati Raghav', thus finishing on a spiritual note.

The same day, one missed three other shows. Pianists Rahul Wadhwani and Nisa Meruno were to perform at the Cube theatre next door at the NMACC. Quite often, one has to choose between the two neighbouring halls, and that gets difficult. In town, the NCPA Bandish festival was being inaugurated, and Hindustani classical vocalists Pt Ajay Pohankar and Ashwini Bhide-Deshpande were to play the compositions of Aman Ali Khan, Sushila Pohankar and Alladiya Khan. Later that night, Jazzafools fronted by vocalist Shrae was slotted at the BlueBop Cafe in Khar. It was one of those days one wished one had four pairs of feet, two of them to be used in adjoining rooms.

Ghalib Se Gulzar Tak by Pankaj Udhas/ Tata Theatre, Nariman Point, August 5 (ghazal): In this thematic presentation, Udhas captured the role of the poet, whose work is the backbone of the ghazal. The title was self-explanatory as he moved from the classical Urdu writers to the modern poets. Aalok Srivastava did a fantastic job writing the script and presenting the show, at times describing the contribution of the masters.

This was the second show in the NCPA Bandish festival. Udhas began with Ghalib's rare 'Dard Ho Dil Mein To Dawa Keeje' and followed it with Meer Taqi Meer's 'Kaash Ke Dil Do Hote' and the underrated Momin's 'Asar To Unko Zara Nahin Hota'. The 20th century poets featured were Nasir Kazmi, Zafar Gorakhpuri and Rajesh Reddy, after which the thematic part ended with 'Baarish', written by Gulzar in their collaborative 2018 album Nayaab Lamhe.

Anticipating the crowd's taste, Udhas also sang his popular tunes 'Aur Ahista Keejiye Baatein', 'Chandi Jaisa Rang' and 'Chitthi Aayee Hai'. One could sense a huge difference in the applause levels, an indication of the audience's general preference.

International Blues Day by various artistes, curated by Adil Manuel/ AntiSocial, Lower Parel, August 5 (blues): Celebrated since 2013, International Blues Day is held on the first Saturday of every August. AntiSocial, the popular live venue, hosted this year's festivities in Mumbai, with guitarist Adil Manuel curating and bringing together some fine vocalists and musicians.

I went straight from NCPA but reached well in time. The singers included Samantha Noella, Kanchan Daniel, Shubhangi C., Subhash Kamath and Nisa Shetty, with flautist Rajeev Raja and keyboardist Rahul Wadhwani among the musicians. Pune band C.Wagh & The Chonky Bois and Mumbai's Blackstackface began the proceedings. Besides originals, the evening was filled with songs by BB King, Muddy Waters, Freddie King, Koko Taylor and other legendary blues artistes.

The place was packed, and it was great to see more youngsters in the hall. A different mix from the Mahindra Blues Festival crowd. The blues came alive in this part of Mumbai, while far away in Navi Mumbai, Sceptre3 and vocalist Teemeer paid tribute to thrash metal icons Metallica at Hard Rock Cafe. Couldn't dream of getting there.

Private performance by Band Zed/ Three Wise Monkeys, Khar, August 6 (classic rock): This was a short appearances at a get-together organised over lunch by a bunch of rock lovers, as part of an underground scene started in 2002. Band Zed were represented by vocalist Kirit, and Jude and Aaron Daniels on guitar.

The short acoustic appearance included Arlo Guthrie's Woodstock anthem  'Coming Into Los Angeles', 'Behind Blue Eyes' and 'See Me, Feel Me' by The Who and the Moody Blues hit 'Nights In White Satin', a song which always reminds us of late Mumbai singer Nandu Bhende. Jaspal Dugal guested on Lynyrd Skynyrd's 'Sweet Home Alabama' and Navin Salian played flute on some songs. Basically a fun gig with some 40 people in attendance.

Tribute To Lata Mangeshkar by Kavita Krishnamurti/ Tata Theatre, August 6 (Hindi film): Being someone absolutely in awe of Lata Mangeshkar since childhood, like millions of others, this was unmissable even after three hectic days. The fact that Kavita Krishnamurti was paying tribute only added to the mood, and throughout the show, she effortlessly brought out the nuances and modulations that Lata Ji was known for.

Preparing the set list was obviously a mammoth task, given the size of Mangeshkar's repertoire. Since this was the concluding day of the NCPA Bandish festival, Krishnamurti tried to cover all the major composers beginning with the likes Khemchand Prakash, Shankar-Jaikishan, C. Ramchandra and Naushad, and keeping place for a medley of songs from the 1990s.

Jeetu Thakur conducted the orchestra. The show covered 30 songs, including the three-song medley and 'Ae Malik Tere Bande Hum' from Do Aankhen Barah Haath, sung remarkably by only the back-up singers. To fit them in, many were cut down to one antara. It worked in most places except 'Yeh Zindagi Usi Ki Hai' from Anarkali, which sounded incomplete without the 'Alvida' climax. I hope to do a longer review somewhere in the near future, so will keep the other song details and observations for later. Let me limit this by saying that the last song 'Ae Mere Watan Ke Logon' gave gooseflesh. Of course, my earworm while going home was another song. The only hint was that it was released in 1966, and remains equally popular even today. But that's something that's true of so many songs of Lata Ji.

So that was a busy four-day stretch gone by. Sadly, I had to miss the day-long classical event held at Fine Arts Society, Chembur, on Sunday to mark 10 years of the InSync music channel. Now let's see when the next binge will happen. There's some jazz and folk-fusion lined up this week, followed by a taal vadya kacheri on Sunday and western classical the following weekend. Mumbai is a concert city that never sleeps. To take a break or not, that is the question.