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Ragas on drum
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Fusion band Advaita dishes out a rocking performance in New Delhi.
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In action The members of Advaita.
Ever wondered how a guitar, which is so Western in concept, would sound when tuned to the Indian classical style of music – playing ragas or jugalbandis with the sarangi and the tabla? Advaita, a Delhi-based ‘eclectic fusion’ band,
has certainly succeeded in doing so. It challenged the laws of music by bringing both the Indian and the Western style of music on a common ground.
Celebrating their third anniversary at the Lodhi Garden Restaurant in New Delhi this past week, Advaita jammed classical music with Rock and treated their audience with flawlessly constructed scores like “Light”, “Gates of Dawn” and “Durga”. For the show, the band was joined by club and fashion circuit visual designer Jean Pierre on visuals and lights and Arunima Kumar, a Kuchipudi dancer, presented her interpretation of some of the music.
As the name suggests, Advaita is an ancient Indian philosophy where A stands for non and Dvai for dual, which also means ‘one’. The band has a spiritual dimension, which runs through their work. Formed in 2004 by lyricist and guitarist Abhishek Mathur, the band is an energetic mix of talented individuals devoted to creating good music. The keyboard is played by Anindo Bose of the Great Indian Rock-winning Friday The Thirteenth. He has also jammed it up with Talvin Singh. The other members include Trinity grade-8 drummer Kumar, sarangi player and Hindustani vocalist Sohail Yusuf Khan who has played with guitarist Steve Vai, Hindustani vocalist and tabla player Ujwal Nagar and percussionist Mohit Lal who has accompanied legendary sarod player Amjad Ali Khan on stage.
Commenting on the band’s style, Abhishek said, “It may sound clichéd but we wanted to break the monotony created by the Rock bands. Indian music is really good so why not fuse it with the West.”
Sufi alaap
The crowd rocked with the lead vocalist Chayan Adhikari and Gaurav Chintamani. Chayan’s voice may be unconventional but is deep and mixes well with the music. The band performed Dhoom Ketu, a new percussion piece composed by its drummer and tabla player. However, the pick of the event was Durga, another crowd favourite, which was sung by Sohail, the sarangi player. The song also had a special appearance by Arunima Kumar on stage dancing Kuchipudi. When the band sang “Light”, the crowd seemed to know the lyrics and hummed along. It has the uplifting words, “Get up and make the change right now”. The performance also featured a sufi alaap, “Suspended in the Skies”.
The compositions were perfect but somehow the drum and the tabla dominated the other instruments. Said Abhishek, “We are working on this and in the next performance we will maintain a balance.”
While the young music lovers were seen enjoying the music, this style seemed not to have convinced the purists .
“Raga Durga is one of our favourites but the purist have criticised it,” said Abhishek.
The band has also introduced visuals. “We have always been fascinated by the vibrancy of colours relating it to the resonance of sounds. Every visual has a sound and vice versa. We want to express with visuals too.”
AMRITA TALWAR
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Friday Review
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
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