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Chilling out with music
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The Unplugged Festival was almost like an extended karaoke show, with the musicians having a good time
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Photo: R. Ravindran
Laidback trip Unplugged festival
If Unwind’s annual rock festival, June Rock Out, brings out hardcore punk rock, alternative power chords and classic heavy-metal-head-bang-till-your-neck-snaps sort of vibe, its other annual feature, the more recent Unplugged Festival is somewhat an anti-thesis to all things rock and metal.
The Unplugged Festival is not about own compositions or competition, it’s meant for you to unwind. It’s a laidback trip down memory lane, where musicians decide to have a little fun, trying to get the audience to sing along, almost like a karaoke show with a little improvisation here and there.
Spirited affair
What stood out at this year’s edition of the Unplugged festival was the camaraderie among the performers, and the spirit of spontaneity and improvisation associated with the Unplugged acoustic format. The concert began quite early by rock show standards, and the KRMM auditorium in Gandhi Nagar was packed. The opening act was by the students of Unwind’s vocal course who having been training with U.K.-based Jaspreet Kaur over the last three months.
They had the audience sway to ‘Dona Nobis’ and ‘Coo Coo The Bird’ and ended with ‘A Whole New World’. Chennai-based Skrat was all attitude, and the guys came up with their brand of unplugged next, with a little ganjira to pep up the proceedings. Octet Cantabile, the mixed voice group, did a little devotional fusion-based tracks and carols, as the audience joined them for ‘12 Days of Christmas’.
Next in the line-up was Swapna Abraham who performed an original titled ‘Angel’, and enchanted the crowd with ‘Don’t Know Why’ (Norah Jones) and ‘Friends’ (Michael W Smith), along with Saroop Oommen.
Jake Thomas strummed up a few hits on the guitar, including the difficult John Mayer song ‘Neon’ and the crowd-pleaser ‘Free-Fallin’ — always a safe bet for mass hysteria. Saroop joined the performers to pay tribute to the lives lost in Mumbai terror attacks with Lennon’s ‘Happy Xmas: War is over if you want it’ making the audience join in the chorus. Every time the chorus was repeated (accompanied by a multi-media presentation of pictures and lyrics), the patriotic fervour in the room went up.
Tara Thomas, a second-year college student read out a poem before Saroop and Freddy Koikaran kick-started the sing-along session with John Denver’s ‘Annie’s Song’, ‘Banana Boat song’, ‘Bed of Roses’ and ‘O Come All Ye Faithful’, and the energy in the auditorium was infectious enough to give them the goosebumps. Reeba Cherian from Coonor took everyone a few decades back with amazingly powerful renditions of ‘Besame Mucho’, ‘Y Aviva Espagna’ and the classic ‘Rose Garden’.
Arresting voice
Jaspreet Kaur had the audience spell-bound with her delectable vocal style. She performed her own composition ‘Seagulls’ before ending with the crowd-pleasing ‘Kiss From a Rose’, accompanied by Jitesh (bass), Bruce (guitars) and Connail (drums).
Fish Food, comprising Jitesh on the bass, Bruce on guitars, Ritesh on drums, Freddy and Alok (vocals), Saroop (guitars) and Angie made the crowd go ‘Rock ‘n Roll All Nite’. With acoustic versions of ‘Pour some sugar on me’ (Def Leppard) and ‘Use me’ (Hootie & the Blowfish), they rocked the show.
The highlight of the concert was Vibrator Mode and Sistah’s doing the ‘Deadly Medley’, starring Benny Dayal, Akash, Abraham and sisters Anisha and Anjana. Their Medley had 20 of the most popular songs of all time weaved together with one riff, flowing seamlessly and smoothly from one to another. Pure unadulterated fun as the singers were accompanied by spirited band-members Ram (bass), Toby (guitars) and Divyan (drums).
Music fans were on a high by the time the concert ended, and some of them passed on the smiles to a section of the underprivileged by making a donation of Rs. 100 each a gift box, comprising stationery for children in an orphanage in Mahabalipuram.
SUDHISH KAMATH
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