When it comes to variety in music, we aren’t choosy in Bengaluru. What happens if a band promises to put everything imaginable together into one solid gig? This weekend, multicultural band Malabi Tropical will serve Bengaluru a musical fruit punch of flavours featuring a variety of influences from different countries.
Featuring Uri Yida Shehoah on main vocals, accordion and charango, Itamar Raviv on bass and bazuki, Dvir Golan on saxophone and guitar and Nitzan Aroshas on drums and percussions, Malabi Tropical blend a range of sounds from tropical Latin-Caribbean rhythms to Middle Eastern and Balkan melodies. Hailing from Israel, Mexico and Costa Rica, the band is named after a traditional Middle Eastern rose-scented, creamy milk pudding.
Ahead of their gig as part of the inaugural weekend at bFlat’s new venue in Brookefield presented in association with Promango and supported by Urban Beat Project, the band hopes to dazzle Bengaluru’s crowd with their music.
Talking on phone from Kathmandu, Nitzan says, “If it can get you moving, it’s enough for us. We break all boundaries and we make it hard for our audience to stand still. We play happy, easy-going songs that will automatically get our listeners dancing. One of the things people enjoy in our performances is that we are a lot of fun. There is a lot of movement – whether it is us on stage or the audience off it. Although we play a bunch of different styles, we make sure the audience enjoys it as much as we love playing it.”
Malabi Tropical’s journey began with Uri. Born in LA, California, Uri moved to Mexico City and grew up in a Jewish ghetto.
He went on a road trip from Canada to Costa Rica in a van packed with musical instruments and a dog. In 2012, Uri met Nitzan in Costa Rica, who was drawn to Latin music. They moved to Israel in 2014 and teamed up with Dvir who brought his jazz influences in and bassist Itamar to put together tropical Caribbean music with Middle Eastern gypsy melodies.
“Since then, there has been no looking back. We also host a range of musicians in our travels across the world. It is a total ‘wow’ feeling to be able to listen to so much variety across the world and incorporate it into our music.”
With members representing various countries, backgrounds and styles, Nitzan says when they play together, “It is like one big orchestra. At the heart of it all is our willingness to adapt to one another. Our music stems from multicultural influences and experiences from travelling and seeing the world. This approach to making music allows us to give something different to everyone who listens to us, no matter what age they are or which country they’re from.”
On their first visit to India as a band, Malabi Tropical heads to Bengaluru after playing in Nepal. “We are very excited to play in India. We’ve always looked forward to playing here. We know the experience will be new and amazing. We’ve heard so much about the food, the people and the culture – it’s going to be beautiful.”
The band has high praise for Indian music. “We admire the sitar and tabla. Indian music stands out for its variety of styles and scales. We are meeting a lot of local bands in Nepal and hope to do the same in Bengaluru,” says Nitzan. He adds: “We’ve heard Indians are open to accept different kinds of music. We hope to learn a lot from our trip here.” Nitzan hopes they never stop learning. “In the future, we want to continue collaborating and travelling. The more we travel, the more we learn and the more the band grows. We are also interested in fusion and will continue to do it.”
Catch Malabi Tropical at the newly opened bFlat at Brookefield Mall in Brookefield, Kundanahalli, on January 5 and bFlat, Indiranagar, on January 6, from 9 pm onwards. Call 41330078 or 25278361 or visit thebflatbar on Facebook.
