Nuances of life through musical notes

With unique compositions and a different style of music, Chai on the Rocks set the stage on fire at Phoenix MarketCity recently.

Despite the rains and the repeated sound checks that had to be done before the performance started, which was almost 90 minutes late from the scheduled time, the event went well.

With warm up pieces and continuous sound tests, Chai on the Rocks managed to arouse the audience and keep them involved. Once they got on the stage, the audience was clapping and cheering.

Playing different compositions by the band like Akele, Azadi, Hey Arjun, Do raha,
Jal and other popular English covers, the performance elevated the spirits of the listeners.

Commenting on the different compositions that the band played on the stage, vocalist Rageesh said, “While some of our pieces revolve around freedom, not only externally but from within, the other talks about the crossroads of life and how we all have had to choose between the two paths.”

He elaborated, “Of the other pieces we performed, one was a song about water, the most important element of life. As one can easily understand, most of our compositions revolve around the subtle realities of life, which we all see and go through, but don’t give a second thought about.”

Commenting on how the name of the band came about, Bobby the lead guitarist, said, “When jamming or writing the lyrics, we used to relax and do it over chai and that’s how we named our band Chai on the Rocks.”

Opining about venues like the courtyard at Phoenix MarketCity, Bobby said, “This space is one of the best in the City as one gets a floating crowd, since lot of people tend to glance at the performance and stop by when they come for their usual shopping.”

The band’s music, which could also be labelled as progressive rock, suits most people’s musical tastes.

Maria Raheed K, a first-year engineering student, who came mall hopping with her friends, said, “We just stopped for a few minutes to take pictures and to find out what was happening, and that’s when we realised that it was live music. In today’s times, when everything comes for a price, we got to breeze through the latest styles at the mall and witness some quality music for free.”

Maria and her friend Mithun added that since the musical renditions impacted people of different ages at the venue, the event seemed to be a success.

Jayaraman K, an IT professional who was strolling through the mall with his family, recollected his own campus days full of music, when he heard the band play.

“The performance reminded me of my college days, where our band ‘Reality Seizures’ tried to spread different messages through our compositions too. With spaces and deadlines for music in the City, this is a great platform for musicians as well as for music connoisseurs,” he said.