Birthdays at NID

Nothing short of a mini nightmare! I type this with a sore ass, two bumps on each thigh and smelling of 'vicks' as someone mentioned (we'll come to that later). It has been an exciting week what with the first time I experience Garba, we're working on plaster of paris(POP) sculptures and yea my birthday. Birthdays at NID can get really messy, and violent at times. No point complaining, designers are a creative and more often than not, wild bunch. We've seen everything from cowdung solution to papier mache to live jumping frogs thrown on the special person. Things were only getting more and more well planned and intricate with each passing birthday. With Matthew's birthday just yesterday, seeing him getting his ass whooped only made it scarier. Therefore it was with mixed expectations that I walked to the celebration of the day I popped into this world 23 years ago. There were threats looming in the air of obituaries in the paper right next to birthday wishes. Oh enough dramatics already. Our work this week with POP made it quite the possibility for a bucket of that to be dumped on me and with Sudhir's constant, not-so-subtle hints of 'collected POP' I was pretty sure I would look quite the chalk statue tonight. Well that didn't happen, thankfully, but everyone wishing giving me birthday hugs before the messy business had me expecting the worst. It wasn't all too bad though :) hot water, cold water, some cake, all topped by three smashed eggs and a frog (nice touch that). By the end of it I had cake all over and in my face. I don't know if its funny to blow your nose and have cake fly out of you nostrils! Not to mention partial deafness due to cake in the ears. Mitin's bald pate attracted more attention than he would have wanted, old chap got both the cake and egg treatments!

And yes the violent part...I have never gotten my ass kicked like I did tonight! Maybe its the rather small anatomy of my body but a lot off the kicks did seem to go way off target - the bottom, people! you're supposed to kick the bottom! I think the human bottom may as a matter of fact have been built to withstand such treatment. Evolutionary foresight perhaps. Nevertheless injuries sustained include the sore bumps on my thighs (get your targets right next time, you sons of icecreams), blood clot on the left palm and general weariness. For a moment it did feel like they were going to beat me to death. When i try to spray some painkiller on the affected area the cap pops off and the can starts spewing an endless stream of said painkiller all over me, which is how i end up smelling like vicks!

Well, I cant deny i didn't have fun. A memorable birthday in the end, I suppose. Thanks ppl! next time birthday bumps happen, be merciful - remember, only the bottom. Cheers!

motherjane and Indian Ocean - Baajaa Gaajaa Day 3

motherjane, today, is one of the biggest bands in India and the fact that the "chettanmaar" are from Kerala does give a pat to the Mallu ego. For a band from Kochi, a relatively small city to have attained such success and recognition is truly inspiring. The only other bands I can think of, from back home, who have scaled such heights is the old 13AD of yore. The ironic part is that I have been to a motherjane gig only once, at Saarang, IIT Madras last year. I had to miss their December gig at Pune due to exams. Therefore when the band announced that they would be playing Baajaa Gaajaa, I couldn't have been happier.


As for Indian Ocean, here was a band of whom I have heard much but whose music I was not familiar with. The only song of theirs that I had heard before was "Bandeh". I remember reading news of their vocalist/percussionist Asheem Chakravarthy's passing away in December 2009. He is known to have been a very versatile musician who could play the tabla and sing simultaneously, with ease.












The concert was the closing event for Baajaa Gaajaa this year and therefore a lot of people wanted passes, not to mention the fact that the two bands playing have a pretty good fan following. As a result the passes ran out even before 11am. What a bummer! Thankfully, someone I know from the event management team got us in through the side, sans passes, into what was labeled as the "Ghat section"(what?). It was only after entering that I realised that this was not the amphitheater but a platform on the side of the stage. Yeah that is the Ghat. Again, bummer! All this because the amphitheater has only 450 seats and that went to the people with passes. What view we had was of the band from the side, blocked mostly by the tower speakers! The only consolation in this situation was that they had erected a set of speakers towards the Ghat, meaning we would at the least get decent sound. The worst part is, behind the stage was an artificial water body bigger than the amphitheater itself. That area if utilised could support a standing audience of up to 1000.

Enough complaints, I'll get on with the gig now. The concert started with some "Chendamelam" (a type of traditional percussion music of Kerala) being played over the PA as motherjane took to the stage with their trademark painted half-kathakali faces. Suraj was quick to acknowledge and thank the 'true fans' in the ghat section, 'the guys who had to fight to get passes', 'the people who got motherjane where they stand today'. That really did make it feel worth all the trouble trying to get in. The band played songs from both of their albums, including Mindstreet(that intro always gets me charged!), Maya, Karmic steps, Broken and a new song - Tribes of Babel - which they wrote for Amnesty International's Peace Initiative. Meanwhile some people from the ghat section managed to sneak in into the amphitheater. Yours truly soon found himself in front of the stage. The band was positioned well away from the edge of the stage but Suraj's wireless mike enabled him to come up front and interact with the audience. Before the last song, Suraj asked the audience to stand up and have fun and when the crowd obliged, then it felt how a real motherjane gig should have. I could notice some unlikely fans having a thoroughly enjoyable time.

At the end of motherjane's set, someone from the management came and requested us to take seats. By then, some of the people had left. In a little while, Indian Ocean came onstage amidst a lot of applause. Rahul Ram, their bassist, acts as the band's spokesman onstage, and i must say he has a way with words. He mentioned Asheem's demise and how it greatly saddened them. They had two new members to take on the tasks of percussion and vocals. I do not remember how many songs the band played but the ones that really struck me were Bandeh and Kandisa. Both of them are amazing songs, Bandeh a lamenting ballad and Kandisa so full of positive vibes. Rahul is very good at what he does - playing bass, and he has a great stage presence. I loved the bass line of Kandisa. Also, Susmit Sen on the guitar was smooth. The band ended the gig with Kandisa and news of a new album which they plan to give out as a free download. They also announced that the documentary about the band will be released on the big screen later this year. Throughout the gig we also had some extra entertainment happening on the side watching this girl go ballistic over Indian Ocean. She seemed to be overcome with godknowswhat flailing her hands, jumping up and screaming "once more" after every song. Great things music does to people!


Some links
- Pics : motherjane and Indian Ocean at Baajaa Gaajaa
- Video : motherjane - Tribes of Babel at Baajaa Gaajaa
- Video : Indian Ocean - Bandeh at Baajaa Gaajaa

Swarathma at Baajaa Gaajaa day 2

If I had to say what my biggest gain from Baajaa Gaajaa was, I wouldn't think twice to answer - The discovery of Swarathma!

Pictures of Swarathma from last year's Baajaa Gaajaa had caught my eye because of their funky clothes and the vocalist's afro haircut. I had heard that they are a pretty good band but never got to listen to them before. I also missed out on their Sutasi episodes(Sutasi is a competition that aims to bring out some of the best musical talent in Asia. The episodes were broadcast in India on Zee Cafe). So i really did not know what to expect when I heard they would be playing at Baajaa Gaajaa.

As the band walked on stage, one couldn't help but notice the interesting combination of clothes. The band members are Vasu Dixit(vocals), Pavan(percussion), Sanjeev(violin), Montry(drums), Jishnu(bass) and Varun(guitar).

Before the show we were greeted with news that Swarathma have won this year's Jack Daniels Awards for Best Album, Best Song and Best Band. Woa, that is something! It reminded me of Avial's win last year. The band started their set wearing Gandhi topis for "Topi Waale", a song about the Indian political situation. Next, came "Tibet" with some very good violin work. It starts slow with some bells and a flute. I could see them using some of those instruments I had mentioned about in my earlier post. I wonder if they got them from the store before the show. The song soon builds up into a very lively tune and Vasu starts jumping around the stage like crazy! I am glad that they played these two songs first because first impressions often are the firmest and I couldn't have had a better one. They are my two favourite songs by the band. When the next song, "Patte saare" was played, a small crowd formed, clapping and cheering right under the stage and interestingly some of them even seemed to know the songs and lyrics! I was surprised to see that this Bangalore band had such a following up here in Pune. Some of the other songs they played were "Yeshu, Allah aur Krishna" (which won the JD award), "Ghum" and a song that was composed by Vasu for a movie. They ended their set with "Ee bhoomi" a Kannada song about peace, love and all that :) . For this song they invited onstage one of the Rajasthani folk drummers who had performed earlier, for an impromptu jam session. They also got the audience to sing along with them in Kannada, most of whom couldn't make head or tail of the lyrics but seemed to be enjoying themselves very much nevertheless.

At the end of the day I had another addition to my list of favourite Indian bands. Swarathma brings with their music a freshness that is infectious and they have an amazing stage act. Looking forward to seeing more of them. My only resentment after the show was that ironically, the real fans didnt get a good aural experience because they were standing in front of the stage, where they missed the sound from the main speakers. What they heard was only the sound from the monitors.

Swarathma - Action Replay

Swarathma has a concept called "Action Replay" where they play a show free for every paid show that they play. Accordingly, they were slated to play a show at The Poona Blind School a day after their gig at Baajaa Gaajaa. One of my friends had missed out on the gig the previous day and so we decided to go see if they would let us in at the school. A lady in the Principal's office was kind enough to let us go to the auditorium "as long as we didn't create any trouble".
On the way there we met this smart kid who asked us "Bhaiyya aap orchestra ke saath aaye ho?" He took us to the auditorium and I noticed the stage setup paled as compared to the previous day. That is because renting a high end audio system would require quite some amount of moolah. There I also happened to meet this guy from a local thrash metal band who had lent their gear for the gig. He kept wondering if, being from a metal band, it would ever be possible for him to play for such an audience. I guess not.

The band came on stage, gloriously dressed up and someone from the audience shouted "Hamein Hindi gaane chahiye!". Bassist Jishnu reassured them and the band started playing . The kids were apparently having a great time, going into applause at random points in the songs when they liked it, especially when during "Tibet" Vasu jumped off the stage and got a group of children to hop around with him. It felt good to see this amazing band play to bring a day of joy and fun to these underprivileged children . Sadly I was not able to catch the whole show as I had to be at another place soon.


Here are some other pics from
1. Baajaa Gaajaa
2. Poona Blind School

Here are some Swarathma links
0. Their site
1. Listen to their songs
2. Buy their album.
3. A video of Topi Waale, not the entire song; and the cameraman seems to be having a lot of fun with zooming and turning the camera but you can still hear the song.
4. Some very badly recorded versions of Topi Waale and Tibet . Just so you can get a preview of the new songs.

Baajaa Gaajaa !

The first week of February 2010 saw the return of Baajaa Gaajaa, the music festival that aimed to bring together independent music from all over the country in all its diversity. I remember seeing pictures of the first edition of the festival in magazines last year, and wishing I could have been there. It was not entirely luck that I happened to be in Pune this time around!


Baajaa Gaajaa, this year, was a three day festival with an expo, seminars, movie screenings and the best part - live performances by a variety of artistes, ranging from Rajasthani Folk to Jazz to Alternative to Hindustani and Classical. There were two stages with different artistes performing through the day from 11am to dusk, 'when u can no longer see the guys on stage', as the fellows from Something Relevant put it. In addition there was a concert, each evening, at the amphitheater. With such a lot of performances I was spoilt for choice, but having still not mastered the art of being at two places at once, I had to miss out on some of them.

The stalls at the expo showcased various musical instrument manufacturers, some instrument stores, and a store selling cds of various Indian bands published by labels like counter culture, underscore and phatphish. The one store that really caught my fancy was 'Svaram', consisting of instrument makers and researchers fom Auroville, Pondicherry. The store, run by an Austrian named Aurelio, had some interestingly innovative instruments inspired by traditions from all over the world including rain drums, storm drums, lithophones and a variety of flutes. The most fascinating piece on display was the Sound-stones made by Hannes Fessman. These were carved out of a single piece of rock and produced musical sounds when rubbed with wet hands. What struck me was the physics of resonance and the calculations that go into the making of such an instrument. It doesn't come cheap either - the piece on display was worth Rs 3lakhs! It seems the craft was started by some stone carvers and musicians in Germany. You can checkout this site about it here. Hannes himself seemed to be having a ball of a time meeting new people and showing them his creations.

Here is a video of Klaus Fessman and his Klangstein ensemble performing with soundstones at Hachenburg - (it doesn't work anymore. been removed by user)



On the first day of the festival I reached the venue in the evening just in time to catch Rohan Solomon of 'Cyanide' finish with his acoustic set, accompanied by someone on tabla. Remember Cyanide from the Channel V launchpad episodes a few years ago? They had seemed to be a good band. I wonder if they still play.

The band I was really looking forward to, that evening, was 'Something Relevant', a jam band from Mumbai. The band consists of Tanmay (guitar), Stuart (bass), Aalok (percussion/backing vocals) , (lead vocals), Ryan (saxophone), Luis (piano/keyboard/backing vocals) and JJ (drums). They play something of a blues/jazz rock mix of sounds and the sax does give the music another dimension. My first impression was that they sounded a bit like Dave Matthews Band but I was soon to stand corrected as their other songs had a more jazzy feel to them. Somewhere in the middle the drum pedal broke and the guys broke into a drumless version of a song which had a very lively feel to it. Unfortunately I don't remember the name of the song. Soon the drum was fixed and they played the same song again with the drums. The session had to end when it got dark because the two stages had little lighting. On the whole a very cool band, I would definitely want to catch them again. You can check them out on myspace.

Getting High on Myoosick!

As a newcomer in Pune, there is a whole lot of things I like and some that i dont. One that i love about this place is the music scene. From Cochin, where you have a gig in maybe three months to Pune where there are bands playing at some place or the other all the time, it's been a refreshing change. This also gave me the chance to check out some genres other than rock and metal, ranging from Marathi folk to French jazz. All this good music has been getting me high! Hence the name myoosick junckie. While this blog is not all about music, a lot of it inevitably will be :)
Be back soon.
Cheers!