narenmusic

BY NARENDRA KUSNUR  It's always a pleasure to hear music built around the acoustic guitar. There were two such shows over the past few days, featuring Polish flamenco guitarist Miguel Czachowski and Kolkata-bred, Mumbai-settled Neil Mukherjee, respectively. Here are some highlights: Indialucia feat. Miguel Czachowski Genre : Indo-flamenco fusion  Details : NMACC Studio, February 22 Rating : **** The group Indialucia was formed almost 25 years ago by Czachowski, with the view to blending the flamenco music of Andalucia, Spain, with Indian melodies and rhythms. Hence the name. This mix has otherwise been attempted by sitar player Anoushka Shankar in  Traveller , her 2011 collaboration with Spanish producer and guitarist Javier Limon. In their self-titled 2015 album and the 2017 follow-up Acatao , Indialucia featured a wide variety of artistes. For the show last Thursday, Czachowski was accompanied by flautist Ravichandra Kulur, ghatam exponent Giridhar Udupa and percussioni...

BY NARENDRA KUSNUR  Varijashree Venugopal feat. Bela Fleck/ Ranjani Label: GroundUP Music Rating: **** Bengaluru singer Varijashree Venugopal's new song 'Ranjani' is based on the raag of the same name. While her composition uses brisk and wonderfully-controlled sargam phrases, it goes into global territory though appearances by banjo player Bela Fleck, of recent Grammy fame, and producer Michael League of the American jazz-fusion band Snarky Puppy, playing the Moog Matriarch and Minimoog bass. The song, from Varijashree's forthcoming album Vari , also features B.C. Manjunath on mridangam and konnakol and Pramath Kiran on assorted percussion, besides a violin trio, thavil, chende and nadaswaram. Quite a diverse mix, represented by an animated video by Sant Mote and Akshaya Bhimaya. Of course, it's Varijashree's immaculate phrasing that enhances the piece. M.D. Pallavi feat. Andi Otto/ Velvet Flicker (from Buddha-Bar XXVI) Label: George V Records  Rating; *** An...

BY NARENDRA KUSNUR Mohit Chauhan/ Duur Label: Self-released Rating: **** After starting his career with the group Silk Route, singer Mohit Chauhan embarked on a solo career and even sang for films like Rockstar and Delhi-6 . He's now working on his new album Musafir , and the video for the first single 'Duur' is out. Mohit is joined by Mongolian singer Baatarjav Ergdenetsogt, who also plays traditional instruments from that region. Parasher Baruah's video captures outdoor locales like snow-capped mountains and pined trees.  Prarthana Gahilote's lyrics have words like, "Kahin raasta chal raha hai, kahin thak ke tham gaya hai, barfon ke saaye mein yahin kab mein bhi kho gaya". The tune has a typical Mohit touch, pleasant, hummable and 'hill-flavoured'. Reek Roy Chowdhury/ Teri Meri Baatein  Promoted by: Greenroom India Rating: ** 1/2 Here's another song about mountainous regions, hill stations and wonderful weather. 'Teri Meri Baatein' h...

BY NARENDRA KUSNUR  Mahindra Blues Festival/ Various artistes Genre : Blues  Details : Mehboob Studio, Bandra, February 10 and 11 Rating : **** Pics - (above) Vanessa Collier and Laura Chavez (below) Samantha Fish Somewhere in the middle of the first day's proceedings, Vanessa Collier's saxophone decided to have a friendly chat with Laura Chavez's Stratocaster electric guitar. They went back and forth for over three minutes, providing some of the most delightful moments of this year's Mahindra Blues Festival (MBF). Cut to Day 2, when singer-guitarist Samantha Fish played a series of incredible solos to garnish her energetic blues-rock set, and singer Sheryl Youngblood surprised the crowd by suddenly plonking herself on the drum-kit. This year's bluestravaganza tried to be different from its predecessors, simply by sticking to an all-female line-up. Except for Delhi-based 'male' group Big Bang Blues, which won the Band Hunt contest, there were no mannish boys...

BY NARENDRA KUSNUR Antariksh/ Karwaan Label: Self-released  Rating: *** 1/2 There have been numerous songs where road trips and travel have been used as metaphors to convey the thought that the actual journey is more important than the destination. But when someone like Delhi band Antariksh does it, there has to be something unique. Fronted by vocalist-guitarist Varun Rajput, the band's new song 'Karwaan' is a fabulous example of what tight music is all about. The electric guitars by Varun and Shrikant Biswakarma have their own story to tell, with Sahil Dhingra's bass and Arko Ganguly's drums knitted to the main melody. The lyrics, shared by Varun and Arko, have lines like, "Jaane kyon yeh mera vaadiyon mein kho sa gaya, manzil ki karein kyon fikar, jab manzil hai itna khushnuma". As we said, it's a feeling that's been expressed often before. But the execution is superb, leaving you high with the interaction of guitars and back-up vocals towards th...