Showing posts with label rock n' rolla. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rock n' rolla. Show all posts

Friday, August 13, 2010

Stoned on music

This long haired, bearded guy brushes past me. I turn to look at him and catch a glimpse. So, I follow him to the toilet and I start peeing next to him. He turns and is about to leave before I manage to stutter a weak, "Are you re-really Rahul?"
He says, "No..", then sees me gaping and smiles, "Yea, milgaye mooth the mooth the."

WTF! Nobody, atleast a lot of people, don't get to pee next to God everyday. I'm already dazed and so I walk back to the hall, waiting like the other 250 or so people in Hard Rock Cafe Hyderabad and wondering why it was taking so long for them to start. But I wasn't to be complaining, was I. The idea of actually seeing Indian Ocean perform live, in blood, flesh and all their glory never occurred to me. For as long as I've been listening to them, they were just demi-gods who composed the finest music I'd ever heard and I was yet another of their devotees among millions. But the moment I saw them mount on stage, Ram with his turban, Sushmit with that weird guitar of his and Amit with the air of a man who's ready to Rock n' Roll, nothing else in the world mattered. The two new entrants were good but it will be really hard to replace someone like Asheem. He truly was the soul of their music.

Anyway, so once they mounted on stage, they started off with Bandeh, then moved on to Hille re, Des Mera, Jhini and a couple of other songs. They started playing at about 9.15 and after a very high intensity of playing and improvising; Amit played the flute and some sort of an Indian stringed instrument and they had this Jugalbandi stuff which was like awesome, came the concluding phase when shouts for Maa Rewa and Kandisa(unarguably their most popular song) went over the top. Probably of the 300 people or so, including a lot of Firangis, there were a 50 of us who were like the die-hard fans who sang along every syllable. I didn't recognise a couple of songs but there were people who knew even that stuff. All hail Indian Ocean.

One helluva experience that. That smile on Sushmit's lips, that look of bliss in Ram's eyes and Are-you-havin'-a-good-time? expression on Amit was ecstasy. I don't think it can get better than this. But if it can, I want it to be Indian Ocean again.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

indian ocean

Came across Indian Ocean 3 days ago, heard Kandisa 2 days ago and listened to the entire album Kandisa yesterday. Today I'm off writing about them. Boy, that is quick. The age of Fast Foods Noodles and 2 minute takeaways. But that is what Sushmit, Asheem, Rahul and Amit do to you. They take you away from this world and transport you into spirituality- Home Delivered.

Indian Ocean is the name of a band formed in 1991 and since 1994, the afore mentioned guys have stuck together. These folks composed music for Hulla(a film I thoroughly enjoyed watching) and though I didn't find the music to be great, I wanted to know what Indian Ocean was. And so I learned about them from their website. Funny, simple and candid, their description of themselves really interested me and I decided to try them once.

So, I youtube Kandisa. You dont listen to this kind of music everyday. I mean its hard to explain or classify them into one genre. And the lyrics of Kandisa are derived from a thousand year old Syrian orthodox church song.



Apart from Kandisa, which is my personal favourite, Maa Rewa(a folk song about the Narmada River) and Khajuraho are very good too. Infact, the entire album is amazing and guys, try it once. I'm still to get over Kandisa but soon I'll listen to the other albums too. Let me know how you felt.

Till then, long live Indian Ocean.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

The God facing hippie



December 7, 2009

A young Sikh in white Kurta, strumming the guitar and singing about his existence in streets. If you've seen Bulla Ki Jaana, you'd know what I'm talking about. And if you haven't heard Bulla Ki Jaana yet, where have you been all along? Until I heard it, I never knew music had such an influence on people. I envy those moments I first saw the video. The feeling pervading in my stomach all that day is inexpressible.

I found Rabbi about two and a half years ago. Varun told me listen to Bulla ki jaana(Is that a B-grade porn song, I asked) and I youtubed it. What a video. But a better song. I heard the song incessantly for a week until I'd mugged it up and could sing it all in my pathetic, tuneless voice. And then, he was gone. He was gone out of my life till '09. After I started playing the guitar myself, I got back to Rabbi. And this time around, I experimented with the entire album, Rabbi.

I couldn't stop listening to it, and it alone for about a month or so. Ajj Nachna, Jugni, Ishtiharr, Gill Te Guitar, infact every song is a masterpiece. No fill-ins. I listened, I listened and I listened some more. But the worst part was, I couldn't comprehend the lyrics and so I started reading the translations. And then I realised the diversity of the album , not just in its music but also in its subject. Rabbi, the album, has everything in it-right from a Punjabi story of two parrots in love in Totia Manmotia to the story of his friends and old days in a Summer of '69 like Gill Te Guitar and from the state of the country in Jugni to seeking answers for his existence in Bulla ki Jaana.

After you've listened to Bulla ki jaana, everything else pales infront of it. The song with its utter simplicity and Rabbi's enchanting voice is so haunting that you can't stop humming it. But the other songs are far above the par, especially for a Punjabi album which came in just after the Balle Balle-Daler Mehendi era.

Last year, saw the entry of one of the most anticipated albums, Avengi jaa nahin. After more than a 4 year long hiatus, Rabbi comes back with an almost almost as good as the first one. The first album is nearly perfect and reaching close to it is no mean task. And in AJN, the spectrum is narrowed down. Both musically and subject wise. There are songs about Gujarat riots, Female feticide, Bandra and description of a long lost lover. The songs are more layered now, Rabbi's voice variations more complex and lyrics, for me, as usual incomprehensible. So, I get back to the translation and find that this time the songs aren't that great. Infact, Return to unity has pretty juvenile lyrics. But I really fell in love with Bilqis, Challa and Return to unity. Especially those parts in Bilqis when he says Unnees nineteen times and that underlying Jana Gana Mana music. Brilliant.

Its hard to believe Rabbi's an untrained musician. The kind of music he composes is much better than that of many trained musicians. Rabbi's music cannot be categorised into a single genre, his lyrics are in Punjabi and he looks more like saint than a singer. Infact, the story of his journey is as unconventional as his songs. His actual name's Gurpreet Singh Shergill but he renamed himself as Rabbi(Rab means God, Rabbi meaning God facing).Idolises Bruce Springsteen and Led Zepp. And he's happy composing music as and when he likes to.

And the best part is, he's proud of his Indian roots. He isn't one of those innumerable singers who sing in fake accented voices and copy tunes of Ricky Martin and Je Lo. He, infact has a huge cult base of fans, I luckily among them, who are happy to wait for his next album, meanwhile treating themselves to his previous work and thanking Bulle Shah for writing that poem which prompted him to re-invent Bulla ki jaana, Rabbi style.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

musically enlightened

For someone whose only source of new music was either a Bollywood or a Tollywood film and whose knowledge of bands started at BackStreet Boys and ended at U2, I have come a long way in the last fortnight. It has been a musical revelation to me, all of a sudden.

In the past 15 days, I have heard songs which I never would have imagined to, seen people play the guitar at lightening speeds and read about bands whose genres range from heavy metal to punk rock. Phew! That is quite a lot of diversity but the best part is, it has opened my windows.(Sorry all ye Mac fans!)

Now to begin with, I bought this book called 'Rat Salad' on my birthday. All i knew about it when I bought it was that it was the story of some obscure rock band called Black Sabbath(Holy crap! Black Sabbath and obscure). Did not start reading it till a couple of weeks back but then once I got the hold of it, I loved the story. Then I realised that if I wanted to know more about the band, get their feel, I should first listen to their songs. So, I started listening to Black Sabbath, Paranoid and Iron Man. Spooky lyrics and Heavy Metal, not my type. But I listened nevertheless. Most importantly, what struck me was Tony Iommi's guitar play with two of his fingertips on his fretting hand missing. Watching him play is really inspirational. Anyway, that was the beginning of me exploring various kinds of music.



Then came John Denver singing away Country Roads, Take me home to glory. I was asked by my Guitar teacher to listen to that song to know the timings of chords. But since I loved Country Roads, I listened to many of his songs, and I love Annie's song and Leaving on a Jet place. Thank God he is a country boy.



Then, a couple of days later ani made me listen to this song called Wonderwall by Oasis. I didn't like it the first time around but he was persistent and I was lucky enough to give it another shot. And this time, I loved it. So, I got back home and started listening to Oasis songs and I love Lyla. A couple of months ago, I would have detested them because they are not my type.



I listen to a lot of blues and having listened to Filmy music all my life, I am impatient with instruments and give a lot of importance to vocals. And then the unthinkable happened. I came across the Acoustic Ninja. And I loved him. Pure guitar and nothing else, Trace is a pleasure to watch and I was stunned by his speed. I don't remember how I came across his site but when I was browsing through the website, this song called Urban Challenge started playing and I knew instantly, Trace was a magician.



And I didn't know Rabbi's new album Avengi jaa nahin released till last week. So, when I was downloading it, I also downloaded Sivamani's Mahaleela. I know I shouldn't be downloading songs but I cannot afford such high prices of these albums. Rabbi is as good as ever and although I always liked Sivamani, Mahaleela made me look upto him. The depth and the purity of those compositions still resonates in my ears.



Then off to Mumbai and there Chinakka listens to all these weirdo songs. I liked Joe Satriani but he didn't touch me. And there, in Bombay I was reading this book called Losing my Virginity, Richard Branson's autobiography. There I found the names Sex Pistols, Boy George and Mike Oldfield. As curious as I am, I youtubed them. And I tell you, Sex Pistols' God Save the Queen is fucking hilarious. They call the queen everything they are not supposed to. And though Boy George looks bizarre, I loved his Karma Chameleon. I always thought all these English songs were rather stupid because of their inaudible lyrics and extremely loud music but Karma Chameleon has a lot to say.





And oh!, Tabular Bells. No wonder they made Richard Branson a goddamn millionaire. You just cannot get over it. It haunts you.

I did quite some shopping in Bombay and having bought this tee with Bob Marley portraits on it, I thought I needed to know something about him before I wore that thing. And Buffalo Soldier rolled on. A voice so deep and so honest, I never knew. No woman no cry, Is this love and Buffalo Soldier are my favourites.



Ok. What next? Ofcourse, Andy Mckee. Boy, see him drift and you will know what a guitar can do. Or rather, what can be done with a guitar. Sheer brilliance.



Once I returned to Hyderabad, I thought I would download all these songs. And having heard a lot about The Beatles, I thought I would give them a go as well. So, what I did was that I downloaded John Lennon's Imagine and unsurprisingly, fell in love with it too. What is wrong with me? I hated 'English' songs and even when Kruthi or Ani forced me to listen to it, I was always closed. Maybe that is the reason, I never liked them. I never wanted to like them. But when I myself stumbled upon all these great artists, I am hungry for more. Not that I didn't listen to English songs. There's a folder in my mp3 player called 'Firangi' and it has a few selected collection of English songs, like Boulevard of Broken Dreams, Summer of 69, Lose Yourself, Right now na na and Have a nice day. But that's it.

I do not know why this fit all of a sudden. But I'm happy about it. Atleast I am open now and am experimenting, not shying away from something new. And as if things couldn't go more wrong, I stumbled upon Lemon Tree by Fool's Garden today morning and its one of the best songs I ever heard. For someone who worships the voices of Atif and Rabbi, Peter Freudenthaler is someone who earns his spot in that league. And the lyrics of Lemon Tree are as deep and meaningful as any.



In these past month, I have had a lot of lows(which everyone somehow knows). I have been called a selfish arrogant asshole more than once, felt deserted, wept my eyes off and almost lost myself in the process. Just when I was crumbling from the inside, when I was feeling lost and when I almost broke apart, music brought me back together. And I am really grateful for it. I have atleast stayed sane.

This journey has been of Musical Enlightenement to me. It came out of the blue and it hit me really hard. But hey, I'm lovin' it.