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Rock `n' raag
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The night-long party showcased the unrelenting spirit of the city
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EPITHETS TURNED out to be ineffective and the waiting paid off. Despite the bringer of boom in the Boom-Shak-A-Lak unable to make it, rock lovers were catapulted into a mesmerising evening of electrifying music. The weekend saw the sprawling lawns at the Ramoji Film City play host to Idea Cellular's night long party featuring that seamless musician Apache Indian, who unfortunately could not make it, the world music band, Mrigya, DJs Mike and Nasha from Mumbai with the gorgeous Nafisa Joseph and the voluble VJ Craig anchoring the show.
Despite a little of the sheen wiped off because Steve Kapur aka Apache Indian not being able to perform, the night glittered nevertheless for the hundreds of Hyderabadis who thronged the venue well past the witching hour. There were a host of sponsors; Smirnoff, Etronics, Nokia, Talwar Hyundai, Kingfisher, Sprite and ESR not forgetting the only Indian nightclub to be featured on the pages of TIME - Bottles and Chimney Outdoors for whom it was their first night out event and Mindkraft Inc.
With Planet Projections doing an excellent job with the sound and lights it was a kaleidoscope of colours, resonance and a smoke screen playing tricks with the mind's eye. DJ Mike from Mumbai was the first to take centre stage and set the tempo for the evening, with those eternal favourites - Queen's We Will Rock You, Waiting for Tonight and Where Is True Love?
The first one-hour saw a few bold attempts to take the dance floor with most folks jiving in closed circles. By the time Nafisa and Craig took to the mike more of the mixed hordes of Hyderabadis decked out from saris to salwars to slinky tops were seen shaking a leg or two. After a couple of wise cracks by Craig, Mrigya's Sharath Srivastav, Sachin Kapoor, Rajat Kakkar and Gyan Singh were invited to perform.
And what the band played over the next half hour was truly mind blowing. Moving away from their trademark music of classical fusion they tuned into pop fusion. A mix of Indian, Western with elements of jazz, qawwali, folk, rock and Hindustani classical, Mrigya was at ease with all divergent forms bridging the musical distance with ιlan. DJ Nasha, that master of the vinyl created an intoxicating accompaniment to Mrigya's core sound. The combined energy fashioned rare, foot tapping music. Sharath let his fingers and the violin deliver the message, with Sachin at the keyboards, Rajat on the drums and the brilliant Gyan on the tabla. While Charu In A Trance, Mitwa, Rock the Raaga and Mast Qalandar were imaginative melodies with an intelligent play of sounds, Pahadi Funk was a skilful harmony of the violin, drums, keyboard and tabla with an aura of the hills to it. At this stage DJ Mike's "get off the seats" even found quite a few of the more reticent ones relenting and this only made the band's energy multiply.
The ethnic house and folk music aficionado, DJ Nasha continued to enthral until the wee hours of the morning with Chodo, chodo and Apni to jaise taise. Thrown in were a couple of pieces by sizzling dancers who set the stage on fire and renewed some of the sagging the spirit-is-willing-but-the-flesh-is weak kinds. Some of the high-energy types jumped away all night and showed no signs of flagging. At the end of it those who truly loved to rock had a night to remember.
DEEPA ALEXANDER
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Metro Plus
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Chennai
Hyderabad
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