Duur Kinara

Shubha Mudgal and Swarathma

Written by Shubha Mudgal, Vasu Dixit, Pavan Kumar KJ and Jishnu Dasgupta

Vo gaye balam

Vo gaye nadiya paar

Aap toh paar utar gaye

Hum toh rahe majdhaar

(Fragile memories,

Snatches of sound,

Faded photographs

Feelings unbound,

Birds flying in a V,

Homeward bound)

Doorada oorina katheya

Kelide nanna hridaya

Ee gaaliyali, nadiyalli

My heart has heard the tales of that faraway land

The tales that waft in the breeze, and flow in the rivers

Taayiya madilalli

geleyara nageyalli

Naa kandenu katheyannu

In my mother’s lap, I’ve heard these tales

In the laughter of my friends, I’ve seen these tales

Re gehri nadiyaa

Naiyya jhanjhari, duur kinara

Us paar saajan hamaara

Re gehri nadiyaa

(Fading photographs,

snatches of sound,

fragile memories,

feelings unbound)

Kanasolagina kanasali naa kande aa ooranu indu

In a dream within a dream I’ve seen that faraway land

(Translated from Kannada by Jishnu Dasgupta)

Tour Poster Design - Vasu Dixit

We head to Chennai at last! It’s been a long while, the last one there was way back in Oct 2010! It should be fun, land up people! Some new tunes and good times.

Tour Poster Artwork - Vasu Dixit

Howdy pard’ner?

It is time to return to Bangalore and play for the good people here. Chasing this thought we’ve come up with this rather exhaustive list of Bangalore gigs. We haven’t played this often in Bangalore in a while and we’re looking forward to it. This blog post goes up when the first two of the dates have already been played! But there’s still three more to go. So where are you going to be at?

June 16 | Infosys Campus | Private Event (New date!)

June 18 | Big Junction Jam Festival | Palace Grounds | Tickets

June 19 | Fete de la Musique | Alliance Francaise | Entry Free

June 21 | Handshake Concert | Chowdiah Memorial Hall | Entry Free

Tour updates here: Facebook | Twitter

The brightly coloured topis tend to make you smile. Swarathma jamming for Lucky Ali at Sennheiser's showroom.

If there’s one thing that Swarathma loves its getting together with musicians of any shape or size and JAM!

There’s something really incredible about the spontaneous combustion of two highly inflammabe musical ideas in the same room. The result is frequently magical! We got a chance to make this happen at the Sennheiser Experience Zone launch at Bangalore, and we got our favourite bands and artists together for a day long jam!

Lucky Ali began the day with a deftly snipped red ribbon that declared the showroom open. But things really got underway when we played for him “Topiwalleh” with him wearing a fluroscent blue and white bad boy and grooving along. It was a dream come true for us when we picked Vasu’s guitar up and jammed with us on “Anjaani Rahon Mein” a song I’ve heard since I was in school.

The Solder boys showed up soon afterwards to kick off the open jam. If you haven’t heard them yet, head over to their Facebook page for some stright up honest alt rock peppered with boyish charm. And then they just kept pouring in: Sachin from Parvaaz, Rauf from Ministry of Blues, everyone from Aks came in, with

Solder and Swarathma come together. Rock x (Alt + Folk) = Awesomeness

musicians picking up whatever instrument that was lying around to join one long massive jam. Sandeep Vashistha dropped by with his flutes as did Bindhu whose vocals added so much colour to the rainy afternoon. It was also great to have our old cohort Rahul Pophali on the tabla.

To end, you realize that you don’t really need a lot to create memories with music. Just a space where minds can come together and feed of each other’s energies. And Sennheiser’s showroom was just that.

Swarathma endorses Sennheiser wireless in-ear monitors and microphones.

Pictures: Santosh Swami (full set) | Video: Sameer Sahab and Vasu Dixit | Text: Jishnu Dasgupta

Sanjeev and Varun get into the groove with 'Ee Bhoomi' at Freedom Park. Pic: Rohan Arthur

It is not every day that you get to be part of something larger than yourself. So when we received word from the folks at India Against Corruption about their efforts to support Anna Hazare’s indefinite fast to bring about changes to the committee that will determine the nature of the Jan Lokpal Bill, we didn’t think twice. We were on tour, coming in from Hubli overnight by the tour bus which we took straight in to Freedom Park in Bangalore. Changing in the bus and doing the morning ablutions at a public toilet were adventures, but they were totally worth it. Check out what we did thanks to Anju Maudgal Kadam.

It’s hard not to be cynical about imagining a world without the deep rooted corruption that is India today. Politics is shunned by the ‘educated’ youth, people like you and me who love moaning about the problem but do nothing about the solution. We’re too caught up in our own lives to bother about anything that falls outside our own interests. Which was why it was incredible to see how Anna Hazare managed to ignite hope for change in a nation as inured to corruption as ours. To be sure, nothing is perfect, and the proposed bill is not going to cure all the evils, but at least it is a step.

India Against Corruption are the folks that put together the SAAKU movement (‘enough’ in Kannada). We couldn’t make it for the event, but we did send in our support via this video. You can join their facebook page here.

This fight has just begun. The Topiwalleh are many in number. But they’re not as powerful as they think.

Text: Jishnu Dasgupta

' I am the Firestarter, I say!'

Those who know of The Prodigy’s recent India Tour for the Invasion Festival will remember the Real Firestarter video that went insanely viral with over 10,000 hits in less than a week. It featured Superstar Rajnikanth, or someone just like him. The man beneath the wig and the apoplectic dance moves percussionist Pavan Kumar speaks of his experiences as the REAL Firestarter. This is the first part. Watch the video here

It all started while I was watching the film ‘No one killed Jessica’ at the cinema theatre. I got a message from Vasu saying ‘Do you want to act the character of Rajnikanth?’ Suddenly I started seeing Rajni on screen! I immediately replied back to him saying that I would love to as I am one of the hardcore fans of the ‘Superstar’ and that it would be my tribute to him. Vasu told me in detail what this whole project was. I came to know that this was a promotion for the band The Prodigy’s India tour. The next day Shreyas (OML Digital) called me and said that I’ve to organise costume and makeup for my character. I made a list of the make up guys and after many calls, I found one guy at Yeshwantpur who seemed to have the kind of coat, wig and moustache I was looking for.

On the day of the shoot I along with Montry went to get the costumes. On reaching the shop I gave him the specifications and showed Thalaiva’s pictures and told him that the wig has to be as close as possible to that of Rajni’s. That man asked what was the shoot about and also who’s the actor. When I told him that it was me,  that man laughed and said you are the production in charge and also the actor! After trying out a couple of blazers, wigs and moustaches, I selected one white coat, a wig and told him to shape the moustache  according to my face, which he did. Then he told me what should be told to the make up artist, when I told  him I’ve to do the make up myself, he couldn’t believe it!

By the time I started from the costume shop Vasu had finalized the location. He along with a couple of  cameramen had reached the location. On the way from the costume shop Montry and I watched the Prodigy Firestarter video and decided on a couple of moves to be done in our own way. And I managed to shave in the car. The location was Ejipura, near Koramangala. It was right outside our earlier jam pad. This was chosen to avoid traffic. It was told that the whole shoot had to be done in about 20 mins. Before people start gathering we should finish the shoot. So I had to mentally prepare myself for it. After reaching Ejipura we parked the cars opposite to the Temple. People were busy in their work and had not noticed us yet. We knew the  moment cameras come out it would start grabbing attention. That’s what exactly happened when the   cameramen started taking test shots. The people – especially the kids, started gathering. I went inside the car and started the make up. Until I was outside, people were least bothered to look at me. Once I came out fully loaded with costumes, the kids first shouted “Ley, avne kanla hero!” (Hey, look he’s the hero!)

I concentrated on the act. Started imagining Rajnikanth’s moves. I also wanted to mix the moves of our own Rebel Star Ambarish. I had not rehearsed the moves at all. I decided what ever comes naturally to me, I’ll do.

Coming up: What shooting the Firestarter feat. Rajnikanth video was really like!

Why does a band need a violinist? The answer is quite simple – to play music!

I can assure you that the chances of you meeting a violinist that plays for a band, are not very high. Trust me, there are far fewer violinists out there than guitarists or drummers! Now, that’s a good thing, as it directly puts the violinist into a group of small but interesting breed of musicians!

A few months ago, I was in Amsterdam on some work and there I met a colleague who happened to be an amature musician himself. The moment he realized I was a violinist that played for a band, he thought it was cool and we joked about forming a band together. He was like “after I finish singing my first verse, mate, it’s time for you to unleash that wicked Bach violin solo!”. Quite cool indeed!

Traditionally, the Violin, and instruments that belong to its class, are what make up the string section of an Orchestra. Vioinists play different roles in an orchestra – the first violins play the melody, the second violin and the rest of the string section normally back up with harmonies. However, in a band setup, its role is somewhat different. Various people have adapted it to suit their musical styles. I believe that when the violin is used sparingly in a band, it stands out. In Swarathma’s music you can hear the violin playing different roles – during solos, it’s loud and takes the center stage, sometimes it whispers in the background playing harmonies. There are times when it plays nothing at all!

Jun Luc Ponty has a brilliant style of phrasing, and enthralled the audience in Bangalore a few years ago. I was there! And what is striking about his style is his total non-usage of vibrato!

Many technological innovations have occured since the times of Bach – one of them being the electrified violin. This again, was born more out of necessity. In an predominantly electric setup, to get the violin’s sound level up there with other instruments like electric guitar, without having to go through that nasty feedback loop on stage, choice of a solid bodied electric violin seems entirely logical. It’s not a new phenomenon, Jean Luc Ponty, a virtuoso violinist I totally admire, pioneered it in early 70s with his Zeta Jazz Fusion violin. Ponty was among the first to combine the violin with MIDI, distortion boxes, phase shifters, and wah-wah pedals. This resulted in his signature, almost synthesizer-like sound.

NS Design CR-5 Electric Violin

Electric violins come in different sizes, shapes and colors! Moreover, you can tweak their sound using pedals to add more textures. Many a times after the show, people come to me and ask what was the instrument that I was playing – is it violin they want to know. I’m almost tempted to say that it is an instrument from another planet!

I use two electric violins on stage: NS Design CR-5 (pictured) and Zeta Jazz Modern 5-string. Both are tuned differently. With a little reverb and acoustic blending, I get the  tone I like. But tone is again something one is never satisfied with for too long! I keep looking for new violin sounds and styles.

Finally, I don’t think its about what instrument you play. One can be a violinist, a guitarist or a pianist, but what matters most in a band is how the instrument is used to enhance the sound of the band.

P.S: Did I tell you this? If you want to be a violinist and look cool, shave your head