To showcase the best musical talent in town, Taaqademy’s ‘Anniversary Music Festival 2013’ was held at the Alliance Francaise, recently. 

This initiative, which is for professional and amateur bands and music-makers, saw performers from the age of nine to 35 years. 

The festival saw gigs by bands like ‘Apokalypse’, ‘Lunatic Fringe’, ‘Zookeepers’ and ‘Thermal And A Quarter’.

 While the artistes went on stage, the crowd consisting of friends and family were excited to the core, cheering and applauding the performers.

The performers felt that the fest was an excellent excuse to play some fantastic music. Kriti Jhanji, a member of the band ‘Second Floor’, said that though they were put together as a band, the group gelled well and has bonded as a group.

 “In the past two-and-half months, the group members have grown together, and now we intend to meet every weekend to jam,” she said. 

   She added that it was an exhilarating experience as this was the first time they were on the stage.

  Talking about the pieces they performed, she detailed, “We played two covers, ‘Cult of Personality’ and ‘I’d Like To’, at the show. We also performed an own composition ‘Nevermind the Bleach’. And, it was a rewarding experience.”

Despite the notion that only the younger crowd are students of the Academy, Shivam Srivastava, the vocalist of ‘That’s Taken’, felt that he’s always felt encouraged as an artiste at the Academy, despite being a professional. “Even though I have a full-time job, I’ve have always made time to jam as a band. It has been an amazing experience at the Academy and it reached its high point when we performed at the fest,” he said.

The audience members agreed that this year’s edition was much better compared to last year’s. Niranjini Vasudev, whose nephew was performing, said that the voice quality of the performers has improved. “Children are more dedicated nowadays, and they see such opportunities as a chance to get a big break,” she said. Leslie Charles, band member of ‘Thermal And A Quarter’, said that despite this just the being second edition of the fest that he’s been a part of, he sees tremendous change in talent and effort. “Students need to be pushed sometimes to perform and with the slightest push, they’ve proved themselves at this event,” said Leslie.