A twist to popular numbers

Trio Unplugged

Dil chahta hai ! Yes, that was the tune that got Delhiites grooving at a recent concert by the famous musical trio,  Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy at the Siri Fort Auditorium.

The show was different in that it involved only acoustic instruments, instead of electronic and digitalised ones. These were accompanied by a percussion ensemble, with instruments such as the dhol, dholak, congos, tabla, and others. The evening witnessed a huge gathering of music lovers dancing to the tunes of the trio.

Shankar Mahadevan, the voice of the band, said the concert revolved around different interpretations of some of their well-known songs — electronic beats were replaced with acoustic ones. “This is the same songs that we normally do, but we have interpreted it differently and mellowed it down; we’ve used the piano and acoustic guitar, and there aren’t too many electronics beats. It’s like seeing the same thing with a different camera”, explained the singer.

Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy took to the stage amidst huge cheers and performed their biggest hits through the years. The trio belted chartbusters from their hit films, including Kal Ho Na Ho, Taare Zameen Par, Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, Rock on, Don, Dil Chahta Hai, Salaam-e-Ishq and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara amongst others.

It was Shankar Mahadevan’s rendition of the award-winning Kal Ho Na Ho and Maa which captivated the packed auditorium. The audience roared its approval as the evening was taken to another level, and requested an encore at the end of the song! A surprise element of the concert was when Shankar asked the famous Bollywood singer, Aakriti Kakkad, who was sitting amongst the audience, to join him on stage. Together, they sang the all time favourite Kajra Re, which brought the crowd to its feet.

After this, Ehsaan Noorani and Loy Mendosa performed an intricate duet on the guitar and piano respectively. Ehsaan Noorani was at his musical best.  Soon, he picked up the guitar to play one of the trio’s most memorable numbers — Mitwa. The audience roared in unison even before the vocals kicked off, to which Shankar Mahadevan had only one word to say — ‘Outstanding’!

Throughout the performance, the audience kept cheering the musical magic created by the melodious mix of Shankar Mahadevan’s brilliance on the mike, Ehsaan Noorani’s verve on the acoustic guitar and Loy Mendonsa’s flair on the grand piano.
While the audience looked to catch its breath, Shankar Mahadevan put in an incredible rendition of ‘Breathless’, to which he received a standing ovation from the entire crowd.

The evening drew to a close with the band performing Senorita, on popular demand from the jubilant crowd. Sushmita Verma, who had come to watch the show, was thrilled to see the star-studded performance. “It was great fun to see the trio perform unplugged. I think their versatility in creating beautiful melodies is something worth appreciating. I loved Shankar’s rendition of ‘Breathless’. It was truly amazing,” she said.