Indian Music

Of late, music festivals in India have been opening themselves up to be more multi-hued, incorporating arts, film, and more into the mix. Consider Ragasthan, which had an ongoing film screening tent, or the Escape Festival of Arts and Music, which exhibits works by local artists. A brand new addition to the festival calendar this year is Ruins Of The Renaissance, which takes place between May 25 and 26 at Innovative Film City (pictured above), on the outskirts of Bangalore. Calling itself the “Woodstock of India – and much more”, the festival claims to be India’s “only multi-discipline creativity & innovation festival”. Non-music events at the festival include a standalone film festival, art exhibitions, street performances (including a tango performance), workshops on photography, juggling and storytelling, an open mic stage, and gallery spaces. One can also take a walk around the open art spaces and learn the crafts of welding, origami and get ones hands messy working with clay. The two-day festival features two music stages – the Main Stage, which features folk music and is only operational on the first day, and the Beach Stage, which veers toward electronica. Possibly the most exciting act at the Main Stage is The Manganiyar Seduction by Roysten Abel. For those of you who didn’t catch them at the Pune edition of the Bacardi NH7 Weekender last year (report), the act comprises 43 musicians from Rajasthan’s Manganiyar tribe, performing within a vertical grid structure that was inspired by Amsterdam’s red light areas (read more about the idea behind the performance here). The carefully-rehearsed performances by the Manganiyar Seduction can grab the undivided attention of any audience, and will serve as the centrepiece of the first day of Ruins Of The Renaissance. Those in Bangalore should definitely not miss out on this. The Manganiyars seduced at Bacardi NH7 Weekender, Pune. Also to perform at the Main Stage are Baul group Oikyotaan, Drum Events India, who will bring interactive drum circles to the festival, Kuru Circus and open-hand dance troupe Twilight Players, whom most remember for their appearance in Dev. D. Check out a video from their 2010 performance at Blue Frog, Mumbai below. The Beach Stage at ROTR will feature some of the country’s leading electronica acts. Over the course of both days, the stage will see sets by Arjun Vagale, Delhi bass producer Nucleya (who recently played a mad opening set for Skream and Benga’s Mumbai gig, pics here), Bangalore hip hop crew Low Rhyderz, Mumbai hip hop group Bombay Bassment, and more. Check out a day-wise stage lineup below. May 25 Main Stage Oikyotaan Twilight Players Kuru Circus Color Drumming by Drum Events India The Manganiyar Seduction by Roysten Abel Beach Stage Vipul Angrish Low Rhyderz Nucleya May 26 Beach Stage DJ Alex Sam Abraham Under The Influence Bombay Bassment Arjun Vagale Ruins Of The Renaissance takes place between May 25 and 26 at Innovative Film City, Bangalore. Tickets are available here, and are priced at Rs 1,500 for a single-day pass, Rs 2,800 for a season pass, Rs 5,000 for a single-day VIP pass and Rs 9,000 for a season VIP pass. Student passes are priced at Rs 1,200 for a day pass and Rs 2,200 for a season pass, and can only be bought at physical locations.

English stand-up is at an interesting cultural crossroads where it is still niche enough to be considered edgy and cool but without the mainstream acceptance, financial backing and familiarity of say music, or dance. After the year 2003, which saw the perfect storm of Indian television broadcasting, The Great Indian Laughter Challenge, with urban Indians finding an outlet of expression after watching Russell Peters explode on YouTube and bars opening up to accommodating newer art forms, English stand-up got on its first legs of cultural relevance. Ten years in, with comics having struggled to build and educate their own audiences, English stand-up has become a regular part of life in an Indian metropolis (Except Kolkata where the Usha Uthup lobby has prevented anything except Naxals from entering). From a time when a handful of comedians had to beg bar owners and auditoriums for a stage, cities are now full of comedians, open mic-ers who have performed once and call themselves comedians, and people who are funny on Twitter and hence think they’re comedians. Everyone has identified stand-up as an opportunity to make money while few care about the passion that has gone behind building this industry. Through this post, I want to share with you the different kind of organisers and promoters an English stand-up comic meets in his day-to-day life. 1. The Hapless Bar Owner  The hapless bar owner is perhaps the more pathetic of the organisers. Usually made familiar of English stand-up comedy after seeing a competitor organise a show, the bar owner thinks that all it really takes to organise a show is a mic, some lights and a guy who owns an Ahuja sound console to get people to automatically start streaming into that venue as if Mata Amritanandamayi were giving away free hugs. The phone call usually goes like this. Hapless bar owner: Hi, is this comedian X? Actually, I got your number from someone and we were interested in doing some stand-up comedy at our venue. Comic: Nice. So where is this place? Is it a restaurant or a bar? What dates are you looking at? How many comics? What’s the budget like? Hapless bar owner: Errr… actually you know budgets are really tight so we don’t really have much to offer comics… but we can give you exposure… like we have connections in media and you’ll get exposure… (What are you a frickin’ nuclear power plant?) Comic: No see, without budgets it will be tough because no one does it for free… what kind of promotion can you do to get people so we can organise some sort of gate-split? Hapless bar owner: Actually, we were thinking you are on Twitter and Facebook so you can tweet… At this stage, that bar is permanently black-listed while the comedian cries realising that his/her value is lower than that of an emcee in a mall shouting to people to get them enter a lucky draw contest. If the hapless bar owner does manage to con some open mic-ers who are desperate for stage time into performing, s/he does fantastic things like let the bar and food service be open through the performance so that the comic can’t hear himself over the chicken shaslik sizzler. The hapless bar owner then decides that stand-up isn’t worth it and goes back to generic events like “Bollywood Nightzzz with DJ Bunty”. 2. The Facebook Acquaintance Given English stand-up’s novelty, being a relatively good comedian gets you at least one article in the press. That and constantly updating ones Facebook with show details also means most of your friends and acquaintances know that you do that thing where you humiliate yourself on stage for the entertainment of strangers. Thus, most people like to take advantage of this fact and invite you to perform at their weddings and birthday parties. These acquaintances are usually easier to deal with than bar owners and the conversation goes like this. Acquaintance you barely remember: Hey man what’s up! Aur show vagera kaise chal rahe hain? Comic: Nothing much man same old, same old.. Acquainta

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#Billboard2013: Rihanna walked away with 4 Billboard Music Awards including Best R&B Artist. Which is your favourite RiRi song?

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The Indiecision Five at 5 is our attempt at sharing our musical tastes with you, and showcasing music from around the world. Each weekday at 5pm sharp, one NH7 writer or staffer will bring you five songs he/she is listening to on the day. Vishad Sharma wants you to hear him out today.  Ray Manzarek was possibly one of the most innovative musicians to come out of the psychedelic ’60s. It was his unique skill on the keyboard that shaped much of the sound that The Doors created. From providing a strong bass section to the music using his organ, to creating complex, engaging soundscapes that characterised their visceral, ethereal music, Manzarek was instrumental to the band’s rise. Manzarek was the understated genius whose ideas made sure the music was never overshadowed by their charismatic vocalist. Unfortunately, Morrison’s tragic (life and) death put an end to the dream but it never put an end to the music that Manzarek created. This is my tribute to him. 1. The Doors – ‘Moonlight Drive’ The Doors have a great number of songs that could have appeared in this list. This is the only song that is featured here because it was the song that started it all for Manzarek and Morrison, when the duo met on a beach in California and Morrison sang these lines for Manzarek. 2. Ray Manzarek – ‘Sunrise’ Manzarek recorded his version of Carmina Burana with Phillip Glass, among others collaborating with him on it. Listen to ‘Sunrise’ off the album below. 3. Echo & The Bunnymen – ‘Bedbugs And Ballyhoo’ When Echo & The Bunnymen were recording their third album of the same name, they decided to rope in Manzarek to contribute on this song. It’s pretty cool and the start has this signature Manzarek sound that is unmissable. 4. Ray Manzarek and Roy Rogers – ‘An Organ, A Guitar And A Chicken Wing’ In 2011, Manzarek collaborated with Roy Rogers to release a bunch of recordings as the album Translucent Blues. This song is the album closer and is a traditional blues jam, just the way we like ‘em. 5. Ray Manzarek – ‘The Whole Thing Started With Rock ‘n Roll And Now It’s Out Of Control’ The title of Manzarek’s second album was a mouthful but the music still shone through and the title song is probably one of the best odes to the spirit of rock ‘n’ roll. Thank you, Ray Manzarek, and keep on playin’ that good old rock ‘n’ roll. Check out previous editions of Five at 5 here, and stay tuned for more picks from NH7, Monday through Friday.

There’s a lot happening in the world of Indian indie music and culture every day. We thought we’d give you the pick of the daily news, served up right here in one handy spot. This is your Quick Fix. Wacken Metal Battle India leg announced The 2013 edition of the Indian leg of Wacken Open Air’s Metal Battles is set to take place over June, awarding one Indian metal act the chance to play Wacken Open Air 2013, which takes place from August 1 to 3. Interested bands may register for the battles on the Bangalore Open Air website, where they must provide a link to their MySpace/ReverbNation/SoundCloud/Facebook page. The deadline for entries is June 10. Shortlisted bands will compete at zonal battles, and the winners of these will battle it out in a semi-final in Bangalore on July 5. Two finalists will compete for a slot at Wacken Open Air at the Jeff Hanneman stage of Bangalore Open Air, which takes place this year on July 6. Last year, Mumbai metallers Zygnema won the Wacken Open Air Metal Battle and secured a spot at the legendary German metal festival. This year, the heavy lineup at Wacken features Anthrax, Lamb Of God, and Meshuggah, among many others. You can read more about the full lineup for this year’s edition of BOA here. Check out the schedule for zonal battles below: Register! Evilution, Bangalore, announced It may be the off-season, but Bangalore’s metal gigs are going strong. Evilution takes place on June 2 at Bangalore’s Ion Bar and features a six-band lineup. On the bill are local thrash act Threinody, Mumbai horror metal group Albatross, Bangalore death metallers Dark Desolation, doom metal act Djinn & Miskatonic, thrash act Neolithic Silence, and heavy metallers Bhoomi. The evening-long gig kicks off at 5.00pm. Tickets can be bought here. Check out a poster below: Something evil this way comes That’s all the news for today. Stay tuned for more daily editions of the Quick Fix.

Russo-German electronica producer extraordinaire Zedd (not to be confused with scene “legends” Zedde) will embark on a three-city tour of India courtesy the good people at Submerge. The young producer (only 23!) will be playing in the country for the first time and will perform in New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. Known for mixing up various styles of music and recently leaning towards electro-house and dubstep, Zedd was noticed by Skrillex and was signed on to the producer’s OWSLA label. The producer has since then released a full-length album called Clarity (featured on a recent Rip ‘N’ Run) and six EPs that comprise remixes as well as original tracks produced by him. Listen to Zedd’s latest from his Soundcloud page, a remix of Empire Of The Sun’s ‘Alive’ The three city-tour will kick off on Friday, May 31 in Delhi, and end on Sunday, June 2, in Mumbai. Tickets for the three-city tour are currently on sale through BookMyShow and prices vary as per the city. You can purchase your passes for the event here. Check out the tour dates and venues below. Tour Dates: May 31 – Kitty-Su, New Delhi June 1 – Geoffrey Lawns, Bangalore June 2 – Pleasuredome, Mumbai And, check out a poster for the tour. Photo from Rukes.com

#Billboard2013: Justin Bieber took home The Milestone Award! Amazing accomplishment for a 19 year old, don't you think? Liked his performance with will.i.am? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuhYh9DPhyU&list=UU6rgK_WHZZQXUremFwPi6qw

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