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A new touch to the tunes

Last Updated 03 December 2013, 14:24 IST

Alternational’, a monthly event curated by Abhijeet Tambe for the last few months, has been creating a space where Bangaloreans meet, listen to new music and experience a collaborative performance piece.

Its fifth edition took place at BFlat Bar recently and saw a DJ set by Karthik Basker, frontman of City-based alternative band ‘The Bicycle Days’, followed by a live performance by ‘Aurora’.

Karthik played a very chilled-out set – an eclectic collection of alternative
and indietronica tracks with a bit of jazz.

 It comprised of artistes like James Blake, ‘Tycho’, ‘Shlomo’, ‘Radiohead’, ‘Tame Impala’, ‘Atoms for Peace’ and others, the influences of which can be seen in his personal style of singing.

“I don’t want to DJ and change the good songs. I just want to play my favourite music that I enjoy listening to and let others appreciate it too,” he explained.

‘Aurora’, the band for the night, comprised of singer-songwriter Abhijeet Tambe on guitar and vocals, Arjun Chandran on guitar and mandolin, Joe Panicker on percussion and Tristan Carter from New Zealand on violin.

The acoustic quartet’s debut gig began with Abhijeet taking the stage alone and filling the room with the reverberating lyrics of ‘High and Dry’ by ‘Radiohead’.

Towards the end of the song, the others joined him. They added to the richness of the song and went on to sing others like ‘Captain Quixote’, ‘Tower of Silence’, ‘Revolution for Now’, ‘Tinker Belle’, ‘Vampire Tree’ and even a cover of ‘Ripple’ by ‘The Grateful Dead’.
Some free improvisation was also thrown in from time to time.

Bushra Shariff, an attendee, said, “‘Alternational’ gathers a listening community that Bangalore is known for. It was nice to hear people recognise a James Blake track that Karthik played or singing along to a ‘Radiohead’ cover. The band was on stage for the first time and that showed. But the spirit was great.”

Abhijeet also felt that the gig went well. “It’s been a while since I’ve gone up and played my own tunes, so it was special. ‘Alternational’ is still searching for identity but I think that we get closer with each edition in figuring out what the event is about. It’s a great space for artistes with ideas to collaborate and give them a form. But the same ideas can take other forms too – like I could do the same songs very differently the next time. It’s great if collaborations can lead to longer relationships. I really enjoyed what we did last night and I want to do more with them for sure,” said Abhijeet. 

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(Published 03 December 2013, 14:24 IST)

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