In August, Chennai artist Amrit Rao and his delightfully titled band, The Madrascals, tread where few independent rock bands do – hosting a full-scale musical adaptation of the songs from his debut album Baemaani . He says, “I wanted to make it a more wholesome live experience.”
Where he was previously an all-out class-clown frontman in parody rock act Live Banned, Rao created The Madrascals to lend a hand in a more thought-provoking brand of satire. Featuring violinist Manoj Kumar, guitarist Karun Ramani, drummer Ramkumar Kanakarajan, bassist Conrad Simmons and keyboardist Bharath Sankar, the Madrascals bring everything from prog rock to atmospheric, cinematic passages for Rao’s Tamil lyricisms.
In the seven-track album, which released earlier this month, Amrit Rao and The Madrascals pull the listener towards social commentary through intricate poetry as well as shape-shifting sonic patterns. There are songs about farmers and the water crisis (‘Thanni’), godmen and their followers (‘Buddhiketta Manidhar’) and demonetization (‘Kaasimedu’) and a cinematic quality to it all, perhaps borrowing from Rao’s regular work in the Tamil film industry as a singer. He says that when he finished writing songs like ‘Thanni’, he realized he could see it coming together as more than just songs being performed by a band on stage. Rao says, “I thought it was big and grand, like all the songs. The better way to present it would be with dance or something, to add to the grandeur. That’s how (dancer) Preethi Bharadwaj came on board. I called her last minute and asked if she was available to dance. She guested for a song and it looked great. I thought we should do it for all the songs and bring in the theatre element and make it a musical.”
Baemaani , the musical, debuted in Chennai earlier this month to a full house and while that was a huge undertaking, Rao wants to do it as often as possible. “That is ideally how I want these songs to be presented. You need support from everyone – venues and promoters,” he says. While he’s yet to get the chance to bring the musical presentation of the album to a stage in Bengaluru, Amrit Rao and the Madrascals will perform on October 31 as part of gig series Unscene, at Fandom at Gilly’s Redefined in Koramangala. They will be joined by fellow Tamil rockers Oorka and city-based multilingual rock band Peepal Tree, who are also launching their album Chetana . Rao says about the show, “Having a one-off show like this is always great. We play with other bands, we feed off their energy.”
As for what’s coming up later, Rao promises “more musicals, more Baemaani shows and the next album.” While he’s already working on a story for the next one, he agrees that Baemaani is more about finding a balance between writing evocative lyrics and catchy music. “I wanted both these elements to be independent of each other. If you take out the melody from the tune and put in an ethnic instrument or acoustic guitars, the vibe is very different. The tune stands on its own, but if you look at the larger picture, that’s what you now hear.”
Amrit Rao and the Madrascals perform at Fandom at Gilly’s Redefined on October 31. Entry: ₹ 300 (additional cover charge of ₹200 applicable). Tickets available on insider.in.
