JOIN USFive bands play for flood relief
It began to pour in the evening on Friday, and that kept many music lovers away from the Bangalore School of Music’s event to raise funds for Kodagu. The venue, Alliance Francaise, filled up partially as the show began at 7.30 pm, half an hour behind schedule.
Moon Arra opened the evening with a longish composition, a poem recited by the well-known jazz singer Madhuri Jagadeesh against loosely structured instrumental music.
Strains of the guitar (M R Jagadeesh) and veena (Geetha Navale) punctuated the occasional vocals of Mythili Anantharaman and Madhuri.
Next came the band Esperanto, with Geetha and Gopal Navale presenting three compositions. Their soulful rendition of the Thyagaraja composition Mokshamu galada was a highlight of the evening.
Gopal played soft, evocative arpeggios and chords on the acoustic guitar to support the haunting beauty of the 18th century composition in raga Saramati, rendered with ease by Geetha.
The kriti, as those familiar with Karnatik music would know, asks a question, ‘Is moksha possible at all in this life without a knowledge of music?’ The duo wrapped up their act with Nagumomu (raga Abheri), another Thyagaraja composition.
Midnight Poppies, led by Sangeeta Hosea, came on stage next.
They presented several original songs, the zingiest of them being ‘Fly away my butterfly,’ and a couple of covers. With Sangeeta Das, Rajni Shivaram (vocals) and Supreeth Kurthukoti (drums), Sangeeta showcased a sparkling blend of influences, pop being one of them.
Then came the trio By2Blues. Their songs were marked by the high-voltage instrumentals of Vasudev Prabhu (harmonica), Ananth Menon (guitar) and Joe Antony (cajon). Ananth led the singing, and was accompanied on some songs by Vasudev. Among their original line-up of songs, Urban VIPs was a satirical take on politicians, while another, influenced by the beats of Malayalam music, was a love ballad.
The funky bends of the harmonica combined with the flamboyant strumming of the guitar and the vigorous, folksy rhythms of the cajon to create an unusual, original sound.
The Jazz Anand Ramakrishna trio closed the evening. Anand’s fluent saxophone sound was accompanied by Aman Mahajan on the piano and P S Rohith on the drums. Aman concluded the show with a solo, his delicately structured original composition titled Leaf motif.
Before the music began, environmentalist Joseph Hoover spoke about how insensitivity to nature had contributed to the recent floods in Kodagu and Kerala.