It was hardly a normal night. But, then who remembers banal nights.
First, a thunderstorm unleashed a gale that toppled shop signs, brought down trees across the city and made the most happening place in town at the moment — the Lister Square, the concert venue of JIPMER’s Spandan 2016 festival — look all desolate and forlorn.
And, when the downpour stopped and the petrichor still hung heavy in the air, it began to rain music as rapidly rising band Masala Coffee took the stage and belted out an eclectic mix of folk fusion, original compositions, A. R. Rahman covers and songs from the fledgling playback career of its lead vocalist Sooraj Santhosh.
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Over the next couple of hours, nothing mattered for the medicos from colleges across the country, whether it was the second spell of sharp showers, the interruptions in the music, or even a power outage. In such trying circumstance, only some stirring music can save the day (night in this case), and fortunately, the eight-piece band managed to overcome an edgy start to deliver just that.
“Odi Odi”, the Tamil song composed by Sooraj set the tone for the night.
“Bharathiyar is an emotion,” declared Sooraj before launching into the band’s ‘metal version’ of Tamil nationalist poet Bharathiyar’s poem ‘Agni konjondru kanden…’
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Once the music began, neither the band’s founder- percussionist Varun Sunil, who also does backing vocals, nor Sooraj had to try too hard to get the crowd involved.
By the time, the Alaipayuthey song ‘Pachai nirame’ came up on the set-list, the crowds were singing along and when Sooraj and Co. began rendering “Aalayaal thara venam”, a Masala Coffee video single based on a Malayalam ballad by thespian dramatist-lyricist Kavalam Narayana Panicker, the jiving had erupted in the aisles.
If the band’s slowed down take on ARR’s “Munbe Vaa..” was all heart and soul, ‘Agnikunjondru’, which also featured in the film “Uriyadi” breathed fire and fervour.
The inevitable chants of ‘Kaantha’ kept rising after each song as the audience beseeched the band to render the song that made Masala Coffee a YouTube sensation. Eventually, it was time to get ‘Kaanthafied’ and the band didn’t disappoint the fans essaying a rollicking version of the song that is set to the metre of Kerala’s fading art form Ottamthullal.
The audience immediately wanted an encore. “Why? asked Sooraj, “We have better songs for you” and proceeded to play an ARR tribute beginning with “Antha Arabi Kadaloram” that segued into “Chikku bukku railyele” and seamlessly transformed into “Usilampatti…”.
The Spandan audience certainly knew their music. They cheered the virtuoso plays on the esraj by Arshad Khan and the violin solos of Krishna Raj. The band included Gokul Eknath (vocals), Kishan Balaji (drums), Preeth P.S. (guitars), Pauly (bass), Sunil George (keys) and David Crimson (lead guitar). A night to remember at Spandan closed out with the Pista song.