‘Mathe Malayadwaja Pandya Sanjathe’ in Khamas composed by Muthiah Bhagavathar is a well known piece in Carnatic music. It got visibility outside the classical stage when it appeared in Mahesh Dattani’s Morning Raga in 2004. Chennai-based band, Staccato has taken this concept of finding an audience from different age groups to enjoy similar music. It is an ensemble that combines vocals, strings and percussion to make a contemporary presentation of classics.
Staccato’s performance at The Hindu November Fest at Chowdiah Memorial Hall had music enthusiasts from all age groups, clapping and shouting their requests. Youngsters in the audience were thrilled with Niranjana Ramanan’s rendition of ‘Mathe Malayadwaja’ with keys, guitar, drums and percussion. It was the band’s sampling of what re-arrangement brings to a song. “This is what we do. While we are keen to play the music that we have created, we also allow our audiences to cultivate a flavour for it,” said vocalist Gowtham Bharadwaj.
Staccato, the experimental fusion band has melodies with classical Carnatic trappings, wrapped in blues, jazz, and Arabic influences. The band was also selected to perform at the Olympics in London, being one of two bands from Asia selected from among 10,000 entries by Slumdog Millionaire director, Danny Boyle
“We are driven by a zest to handle new forms of music and innovate on well known compositions,” Gowtham said, even as he took requests for Kannada numbers.
“We have chosen classics from Kannada films for a medley as a tribute to locals in our first event in Bengaluru,” said Gowtham as he joined Niranjana for ‘Naguva Nayana,’ ( Pallavi Anupallavi ); ‘Jeeva Hoovagide’ ( Nee Nanna Gellalaare ); ‘Jote Jotheyali’ (Geetha) with the audience singing along.
Staccato performed several of their own compositions, their tribute to K Balachander had audience tapping their feet, clapping and asking for encores. ‘Sippi Irukkuda Mutham Irukkudu’ and ‘Enna Sattam Inda Neram’ was followed by an experimental dance, ‘Javali’, a Telugu piece that spoke of the band’s reputation.
Staccato also performed popular Hindi film classics ‘Mere Saamne Wale’ ‘Ajeeb Daastan’ and ‘Aajkal Tere Mere Sapne.’ Manoj Kumar (violin), RH Vikram (arrangements and keys), Shallu Varun (bass), Abinandan R (guitars), Saurabh Joshi (tabla & ethnic percussions) lend able support.
Gowtham explained in the beginning of the concert that the band had a threefold agenda — interpretation of classics, current and trending hits, and their own compositions. And all three were elegantly realised in every note of Staccato’s adventurous, contemporary classical melody.
Rock, pop and jazz
The second of the two concerts was the five-member band Indosoul led by vocalist and violinist Karthick Iyer. After listening to the six-year-old band’s novel elucidation of Carnatic classical numbers one wonders what exactly helps one to feel that difference in a song evolving in a new avatar? The band breaks down barriers between genres, instruments, cultures and languages to gather the deep commonalities that make up melody.
“We have an electric violin, a mridanga, an acoustic guitar, bass, drums and vocals in our band,” said Karthick as he introduced his Indosoul mates on stage — Vikram Vivekanand (guitar), Sumesh Narayanan (mridanga and percussion), Ramkumar Kanakarajan (drums) and Reshwin Nishith (bass). “Find out what strikes your soul, the genre, the beat, the instruments, the notes, the voice, or something else.”
Retaining its core identity of being Indian in its melodic refrain and conscious of its Carnatic roots, experimentation for Karthick was essential in his “exploratory journey. Every idea takes off from the classical perspective as we all have a Carnatic background. And in a collaborative exercise, each musician approaches music with a sound that comes from one’s background. It is the combination that brings in the soul,” he said as he performed Tyagaraja’s Janaranjani composition ‘Vidajaladura.’ With the strumming of soft notes from the guitar and claps interspersed with percussion for rhythm leading to the kriti in higher octaves on the violin, the song gained all the multi-charactered rendering with rock, pop and jazz. The other Tyagaraja’s piece ‘Manavyalakinchara’ in Nalinakanthi initiated with mellow and subdued guitar notes, also blended with faint verbal percussion even as the violin interludes flowed along with finger snapping sounds from percussionists.
Indosoul’s ‘Saramati,’ ‘Two Sides of Karma’ and ‘Varali’s Wives’ were the much-appreciated pieces presented from their album that got them loud appreciatory shouts from the packed hall.
