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Music cocktail

Sound options Lehera borrows from different styles

Indo-Canadian band Lehera is embarking on their second international tour. Lehera, the world music band based in Canada comprises Prashant Michael John of Canada on acoustic guitar, Bangalore’s Prakash Sontakke on Hindustani Hawaiian slide guit ar and Kartick Subramanya on Ghatam.The band will leave on July 5.

In their first tour in 2006 to British Columbia, the band played 18 concerts “just touching the interiors of Canada”, as Sontakke said. This time the band will participate in some of the leading jazz and world music festivals in Canada and perform in 50 concerts.

“No Indian musicians have performed in British Columbia. Indian music has tremendous impact on world music genre. Across the world musicians are keen to collaborate with Indian musicians and corporate Indian influences. People can relate to Indian music anywhere,” says Sontakke.

The band is also releasing their debut album, “Lehera”. and conducting lecture demonstrations. Describing their genre, Sontakke says, “Our music is very powerful. It is heavy western to which we add ghatam.We want to show that to have powerful sounds you don’t necessarily need drums.”

The threesome bring their roots in North and South Indian classical music and Western musical forms to create world music. Vocals in English and Classical Indian styles intertwine with Hindustani slide guitar, violin and bamboo flutes and vocal harmonics and are driven by ghatam and world percussion sounds. “The world is becoming a global village. Everyone listens to everything. The boundaries are blurring,” says Sontakke.

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