A celebration of music

The Fête de la Musique at Alliance Francaise saw some of the city’s finest and upcoming talent share stage.

June 25, 2015 06:09 pm | Updated 06:09 pm IST

26bgmpMusic1

26bgmpMusic1

As always since 1984, Alliance Francaise celebrated Fête de la Musique over the weekend. The first day started off mellow, with pop acapella band Soulful Harmony, and moved to different genres of rock and blues. Caroline Fernandez and Border Blast, which were both rock groups, set the overall tone for the day with their music, with Sid Jonathan And The Difference giving a notable performance.

“We started off as a church band,” lead vocalist Sid Jonathan says. “We have faced many obstacles, but today it’s all about celebrating music.” He adds that the festival has a great ambience - a thought shared by many artistes performing that day. Concerts marked celebrations at other venues, including Big Pitcher, Humming Tree and Namma Metro stations.

The tone of the festival changed dramatically, with reggae/blues group DeafTone done giving a stellar performance. “We are an improv band,” says Zeke who was on vocals. “Bangalore responds really well to our style of bringing a bit of reggae into everything we perform. The five-member band was followed by the Baale Mane ‘Dollu Kunitha’ dancers. With large drums strapped to their bodies, the girls awed the audience with their dexterity. “We want to raise awareness and have fun,” says Fathima, one of the dancers. “We learnt this dance four years ago and have been practising on and off ever since.”

The styles continued to vary, with Young Kingz performing hip hop, Imputed Then playing Christian rock and other groups others delivering blues, classical, fusion rock and pop rock shows. Clown With a Frown, the popular city band, also put on a great performance. The fest also had its share of jazz groups with TrafficJam, Frijo's Not Yet Jazz and the Whitefield Jazz Quartet.

Keeping the global concept of World Music Day in mind, ManojGeorge4Strings and Prakash Sontakke played world fusion and world music while Vachan Chinnappa wrapped up the first day with DJ funk and hip hop.

The second day of the festival started off with 18 Across playing blues and rock. Many Rao and Friends as well as The Acoustic Project were well received as well. Rock band Cosmic Resonance also received a tremendous response. Algorythm, an acoustic pop group loved the ambience that Alliance Francaise provided. “The audience is very supportive,” says vocalist Sukeerth who adds: “It's a great opportunity to gain more exposure and play at a festival which also has professional bands.” Conditions Apply played soon after, rapidly making new fans among the audience. “Metal is often misunderstood, and we aim to change their perceptions and connect with the crowd on World Music Day,” says Boaz, the bassist.

Groove metal band Quarantine came next. They were followed by The Sylvester Trio, an experimental funk group. “The festival is about raising awareness for bands in the city and celebrating the cause, chorused the Trio’s members. Fusion jazz band Vivek Santosh Trio were next followed by Polly Wants A Cracker. The classic rock punk grunge band believes it is all about the music saying, “It is the music that motivates us.”

Metal and rock were the main themes for the rest of the night with The High Concept, Tangents and Redempsure and Morbidence playing one after the other. Hardcore metal and djent blues band Bhrama Approaches followed by Symphonic Eternity, a progressive rock band composed of school children, wowed the crowd. Galeej Gurus, the city’s legendary rock alternative funk blues band, also made new fans.

Slither, an ambient metal and djent metal band composed of college and working performers share that it is their passion, rather than gaining money which is of importance. “The festival is improving every year and the crowd is getting better and better,” says the band’s vocalist.

The night drew to a close with Work in Progress, an alternative experimental Rock band and Pulse Theory, a progressive rock band. Mode. AKA an electronica alternative group and crowd favourites Peepal Tree ended the fest with a musical big bang.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.