(Posted on behalf of Little Big Noise)

Grammy Award-winning artist/producer/DJ David Guetta will perform in India for the first time at the second edition of Eristoff Invasion this March. With chart-topping hits like ‘When Love Takes Over’ ‘Gettin Over You’ and ‘Sexy Bitch’, the world’s No. 1 DJ and one the world’s foremost music makers, David Guetta will headline Eristoff Invasion March 2012, performing in New Delhi at Huda Grounds on 9th March, in Pune at Amanora Park Town on 10th March and in Bangalore at Palace Grounds on 11th March.

Guetta is a multi-platinum selling artist in Europe and America, with five chart-topping albums to his name - Just a Little More Love (2002), Guetta Blaster(2004) Pop Life (2007), One Love (2009) and Nothing But The Beat (2011).

Guetta’s latest album, Nothing But The Beat features 17 guest artists – from hip-hop royalty like Snoop Dogg, Ludacris, Timbaland and Will.I.Am, game-changing rappers like Nicki Minaj and Lil Wayne to R&B superstars like Usher, Chris Brown and Akon. The album includes the smash hits singles ‘Where Them Girls At’, ‘Little Bad Girl’, ‘Without You’, ‘Titanium’ and the hot new ‘Turn Me On’ (feat. Nicki Minaj) plus killer club tracks with Afro jack and Avicii. David Guetta has headlined some of the biggest music festivals in the world including Creamfields and Tomorrow lands and just played to over 2 million fans at one of the world’s biggest New Year parties in Brazil on Copacabana Beach.

On his first ever tour in India,David Guetta says, “I’m excited to finally get to play in India. I know my music has been heard and supported for many years, but until now it’s been impossible to get there. This will be a very special tour, I’m sure.”

Since its launch, Eristoff, from the house of Bacardi, has been striving to deliver unique experiences to its patrons, such as the Ersitoff Invasion and the Wolf Night parties. In line with the brand’s personality of being edgy and bold, Eristoff Invasion is a music festival that brings the best international, contemporary, high-energy acts to India – acts brimming with attitude and personality. The first edition of Eristoff Invasion in January2011 saw British electro-dance giants The Prodigy headline the festival, which travelled to Bangalore and New Delhi. In its second year, Eristoff Invasion adds Pune to its travel map.

According to Arvind Krishnan, Director Marketing, Bacardi India P.Ltd, “Eristoff has always been a highly evolved and edgy brand globally, and encouraged people to live life more instinctively. Eristoff Invasion provides the ideal environment for them to do just that, especially with David Guetta on stage. After introducing The Prodigy here last year, we are very excited to now bring in David to India for the first time ever, and can promise the audiences across the three cities the most thrilling and memorable experience of their lives.”

Says Vijay Nair, CEO of Only Much Louder,“Eristoff Invasion is about exhilarating live music experiences. We look for acts that aren’t just cutting-edge and contemporary, but also great performers. David Guetta is one of the most incredible artists in the world to not just listen to, but also experience live. I’m personally incredibly excited to watch him live, and also to bring the Eristoff Invasion experience to Pune for the first time.”

Zak Biddu, CEO of UKNY Music adds, “David Guetta is the No.1 DJ and one of the most played and celebrated artists in the world. To bring him to India at this time is fantastic for Eristoff Invasion. His festival performances are groundbreaking and I cannot wait for these shows! “

The festival is organised by Only Much Louder in partnership with UKNY Music, a leading UK-based music and events company.

Eristoff Invasion March 2012 – Schedule

9th March: New Delhi Huda Grounds
10th March: Pune Amanora Park Town
11th March:  Bangalore Palace Grounds

Tickets now on sale.

Ticket prices:

Delhi: Rs 2,000
Pune: Rs 2,000
Bangalore: Rs. 1,950

Log on to: www.eristoffinvasion.in

57th edition of Filmfare Awards is on, and since the music category has been announced, thought of putting an update. Best Composer, yes, A R Rahman indeed, his filmfare no. 15! Rockstar won two more in the musical section – Mohit Chauhan as male singer and Irshad Kamil as lyricst for Naadaan Parindey. Two of the nicest things from the awards came in the remaining two categories though. Krsna winning the RD Burman Award for Upcoming Talent in Music for his spectacular score in Tanu Weds Manu. May this be a beginning to many more his way. And the second was Usha Uthup winning her first award in over 40 years of her musical career, alongside Rekha Bhardwaj for Darling. Ranjit Barot scored yet another one for his Shaitaan BGM. I don’t care much how the rest of the awards go, I am quite happy with the music awards. Waiting for the next one now.

The 18th Screen Awards got announced some time back. And guess what, NO DABANGG! But seriously, this time the awards seem to have displayed a bit more fairness, though I did notice some absolutely outrageous ones. In the music category though, things were pretty much as expected – at least from the nomination list given. A R Rahman quite understandably won the Best Composer award for Rockstar. I guess that will be a constant at all awards. And Mohit Chauhan got adjudged Best Playback Singer (Male) for the same movie. Shreya Ghoshal won the Best Playback Singer (Female) for her risque rendition of Ooh La La from The Dirty Picture, and Prasoon Joshi‘s quirky lyrics for Achcha Lagta Hai from Aarakshan got him the Best Lyricist award. Best Background Score went to Ranjit Barot for Shaitan, I was hoping that either him or Amit Trivedi win it, glad one of them did.

Well that’s about it. You can see the rest of the award winners here.

If one were to ask me for my fav things about Bangalore, the first in the list would undoubtedly be its vibrant arts scene. And one of the loveliest and the most large scale showcases of the same, the Bengaluru Habba, kicks off its 9th edition today. From today to the 22nd of January various venues in Bangalore shall have free-for-all events catering to almost every category of art lovers – music, theatre, films, dance.. Below is the schedule of just the musical part of the Habba. You can see the complete schedule here. So while you figure out what event to go to, I am off to watch Sanjay Divecha’s Acoustic Jazz concert at UB City.

The Jazz and Rock festival is to be held at UB City Amphitheatre, Vittal Mallya Road.

13-Jan   7:00 PM   Sanjay Divecha Duet  (Acoustic Jazz)

13-Jan   8:30 PM   Moon Arra   (Jazz)

14-Jan   7:00 PM   Caesar’s Palace   (Rock)

14-Jan   8:30 PM   Bhoomi   (Rock)

15-Jan   7:00 PM   Infusion   (Jazz)

15-Jan   8:30 PM   Warren Mendonca & Blackstrat Blues   (Jazz Blues)

16-Jan   7:00 PM   Farenheit   (Rock)

16-Jan   8:30 PM   Live Banned   (Rock)

17-Jan   7:00 PM   Groove #3   (Jazz)

17-Jan   8:30 PM   Chronic Blues Circus (Jazz Blues)

 

The classical music festival, called Sangeetha Sambramha – Bharatratna Pandit Bhimsen Joshi Vedike, is at Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath, Kumarakrupa Road

13-Jan   6:30 PM   Kum. Aditi Prahalad Rao  (Carnatic Vocal)

13-Jan   7:30 PM   Pandit Vidyabhushan  (Dasavani)

14-Jan   6:30 PM   Smt.Lakshmi Natraj Kum. Vidya Nagaraj, Mysore  (Carnatic Vocal)

14-Jan   7:30 PM   Shri Prakash Sontaki on Hawaian Electric Guitar Dr. Jyotsna, London on Violin  (Jugalbandi)

15-Jan   6:30 PM   Pandit Venkatesh Kumar, Dharwad  (Hindustani Vocal)

15-Jan   7:30 PM   Ustad Umakant Gundecha & Ustad Ravikant Gundecha – Dhrupad Vocal, accomapnied by Igino Brunoli – Saxophone, Virginia Nicoli – Silver Flute & Akhilesh Gundecha – Pakhawaj

16-Jan   6:30 PM   Smt. Madhavi Ganesh Prasad, Bhadravati  (Carnatic Vocal)

16-Jan   7:30 PM   Dr. Kadri Gopalnath  (Carnatic Saxophone)

17-Jan   6:30 PM   Shri Sanjiv Korti, Bijapur  (Sitar)

17-Jan   7:30 PM   Shri Parameshwara Hegde  (Hindustani Vocal)

18-Jan   6:30 PM   Shri H. R. Vinay & Shri K. V. Krishna Prasad  (Carnatic Vocal)

18-Jan   7:30 PM   Shri Sridhar Sagar – Saxophone Shri Bharath -Flute  (Jugalbandi)

19-Jan   6:30 PM   Kum. Malasri Kanvi & Shri Kumar Kanvi, Gulbarga  (Vachana Gayana)

19-Jan   7:30 PM   Shri Chintan Vikas & Group, Mysore  (Janapada)

20-Jan   6:30 PM   Smt. Sridevi Kalasad, Dharward  (Hindustani Vocal)

20-Jan   7:30 PM   Ustad Rais Khan, Pune Ustad Hafiz Khan  (Sitar)

21-Jan   6:30 PM   Kum. Varija Shree & team  (Fusion)

21-Jan   7:30 PM   “Baa Illi Sambhavisu” Songs dedicated to Shri C. Aswath Design & Direction – Shri Sudarshan (Sugama Sangeetha)

It was some time in 2005 that I got first introduced to this song Giriraja Sutha (named Giriraj Sudha by the artists on their CD et al) by my good friend and partner at Music Aloud, Praveen VR. The song turned out to be a landmark song in my life for multiple reasons. That was probably the time I really started paying attention to the genre of fusion music, a major share of the office bandwidth was utilized in subsequent days in a mad rush to procure songs by various fusion bands. And that was the time Shankar Mahadevan, to me, got promoted to a pedestal above other contemporary film singers, this rendition of his (and other fusion songs of his I heard later on) totally floored me. And most importantly, that was the time I got introduced to the guitar God named John McLaughlin, and the fusion band Remember Shakti comprised, apart from him and Shankar M, of Zakir Hussain, U Srinivas and Selvaganesh Vinaykram. Hundreds of fusion songs I have heard since then, but this band has always remained special. I was lucky enough to catch them live when they came to Bangalore in 2006. One of the best concerts I have attended to date.

So coming to the point this post was supposed to be about, in February this year I shall be graced with that fortune yet again, when the band is making another of its concert tours in 5 different cities in India. Below is the schedule of the tour (source: johnmclaughlin.com). The tickets can be booked via bookmyshow. So if you love fusion music, mark off your calendars and make plans – this is one concert you DO NOT want to miss. They do not tour very often, for one thing.

• 5th February Ganesh Kala Kreeda Manch, Pune
• 7th February Shanmukhananda Auditorium, Mumbai
• 9th February Palace ground– Mekri Circle, Kaveri Junction, Bangalore
• 10th February Lalit Palace Ground– Hyderabad
• 11th February Music Academy Hall– M G ROAD, Chennai
• 12th February King George School, Dadar, Mumbai

And below are two songs from the band, to guide you in your decision making.

46 years, since A S Dileep Kumar was born. And 20 years, since he changed the way we perceive film music, with that score for Mani Ratnam – a combo which subsequently gifted some out-of-the-world music to us. Anyone who follows ARR’s music would undoubtedly agree that the sound of ARR’s music has changed over the years, in fact there are many who sorely miss the 90s music of ARR (yours truly included). But that is no reason to conclude that ARR has lost his touch, the man quite adequately proved that with that cracker of a soundtrack this year for Rockstar. Sadly though this writeup comes at a time when another soundtrack of his has released, which wouldn’t count among his best works courtesy the dubbed lyrics. Hardly a matter of concern though actually, given that there is always the Tamil original to fall back to. Therefore,  not letting that worry me on this wonderful day, here is wishing the maestro a lot more years of celebration and of lovely music. And as a birthday tribute, here is a compilation of my 30 fav instrumental tracks from Rahman (one of the few themes I could think of where the list could be a restricted to a fairly reasonable number of songs! ). Enjoy!

(Posted on behalf of Little Big Noise)

World-renowned percussionist, Bickram Ghosh, Assamese folk/indie singer, Papon and Scottish singer-songwriter Rachel Sermanni – three musicians from three diverse backgrounds – will come together for ‘Troikala’, in search of an exploratory musical synergy in folk music that transcends borders. Curated and organized by British Council in association with Folktronic, ‘Troikala’ will see the three musicians work together from December 2011 to May 2012 to produce an album and a concert tour in India and the UK to showcase their collaborative efforts.

“This concept allows us to explore our talent to create a unique sound. Rachel Sermanni and Papon are great artists and when the three of us get together, we plan to introduce interesting musical concepts by merging each of our unique perspectives, which will come together as one awesome sound in the end,” says Bickram Ghosh.

“We will be experimenting with each other’s folk sensibilities, and I may introduce some electronic elements and Hindustani classical instruments into the collaboration. This collaboration, owing to our similarities within folk music, will definitely lead to something interesting. You can expect something unexpected,” says Papon.

Troikala concert in India

Time: 6.30 pm

Entry: Rs. 150

Bickram Ghosh is dubbed as a new-age percussion star, ranked amongst the great tabla players of India. Son of the great tabla maestro Pandit Shankar Ghosh, Bickram has also learnt the nuances of Carnatic percussion and he has carved a niche for himself in his diverse avatars as classical musician and avant garde artiste and composer. He has over 70 recordings as soloist, composer and collaborator, and has played on a number of Grammy nominated albums as well.

Papon is an Assamese singer, composer, programmer and producer. Born to popular local musicians Archana Mahanta and Khagen Mahanta, he was introduced to music early on in his childhood and his initial training was in Indian classical, devotional and folk music from Assam. His current music covers genres like ambient electronic, acoustic folk and new-age Indian classical music and includes influences of pentatonic Mongoloid notes, local river song influences, Indian classical music and ghazals and new-age electronica.

Rachel Sermanni is a 19-year-old Scottish singer-songwriter from a small village in the Highlands, called Carrbridge. Her work conjures a kaleidoscopic reverie of sights and sounds, from smoky, old-school jazz clubs to Glaswegian indie-pop and pastoral folk-tinged choirs and natural affinity with any audience belies her young age. Rachel is currently putting the glue work to her debut EP which will be out January next year.

About British Council

British Council supports the music industry in India through Soundpad. Over the last four years British Council has been working successfully with the music sector, using a range of approaches to link theUKs music industry to the rapidly growing independent Indian music scene. As a result there have been a wide range of British acts visiting India and vice versa, interesting collaborations and albums such as John Leckie’s project with Swarathma, Advaita, Indigo Children and Advaita and even industry conferences like Un-Convention.

http://soundpad.britishcouncil.org.in/

About Folktronic

A sub brand of DAY 1, Sony Music’s Independent music initiative, Folktronic is a platform that brings to the fore front the culture of Indian folk music to the youth/world in a contemporary format. Derived from the genre Folktronica, the venture aspires to develop artists & repertoire with collaboration opportunities between folk and new-age artists. From LIVE, A&R management to digital, Folktronic takes a 360 degree approach to represent Indian music on a global stage.

Today is Children’s Day. Also, World Diabetes Day. But for Indian music lovers (Malayalis primarily) this day is extra-special for another reason.  This day, 50 years ago, under the tutelage of composer M B Sreenivasan, a young singer named Kaattaassery Joseph Yesudas made his debut as playback singer by singing the now famous poem beginning with Jaathi Bhedham, Matha dwesham, and an era began in Indian film music. Over the years the man has been part and parcel of every Malayali’s life, he has given us more than enough music to cherish over a life time. True to the first lines he sang, his musical influence has transgressed religion and caste. Having contributd a majority of his classics in Malayalam and Tamil, it was rather unfortunate that a lot of his greatness went unnoticed up North, but in Hindi too there was a fair share of wonderful songs he rendered. In any case, on this 50^th anniversary, we present to you an opportunity to listen to at least some of that awesomeness you might have missed, through a compilation of some of his best renditions in the three languages. We had planned to create a playlist of 50, but KJY has too many good songs. And in our defense, 62 in octal system does translate to 50.

(The sketch featured was drawn live by the brilliant Keshav at the Music Academy a few years back. Thanks a lot to him for allowing to use this)

Who are India’s next big bands? Red Bull Bedroom Jam 2011 will find them

(Posted on behalf of Little Big Noise)

4 bedroom bands will get the chance to perform at some of the most anticipated festivals in the country and each of these bands will get a brand new music video shot in their bedrooms by the coolest, edgiest directors at social media and production house, Jack in the Box.

This is what Red Bull Bedroom Jam 2011 is set to do this November: Scour the country for the best talent among homegrown bands across all genres – rock, metal, alternative, hip-hop, singer-songwriters, pop, funk and so on – and put the best 4 bands in the spotlight. 

The idea is simple: Most musicians showcase explosive creativity while jamming in their bedrooms, making the bedroom the best place to find original, unidentified, fresh talent. Red Bull Bedroom Jam India hunts down these bedroom bands and gives them a platform to take their music to the rest of the world.

Bands from across India can upload their home-produced music video on www.redbullbedroomjam.in by 7th November. After which, fans log in and vote for the ones they like, and the winners are picked based on their popularity on the ‘Buzz Chart’. The best 8 bands will then play at a club opening and will open for some of the biggest headlining acts in the country and will compete to be the final, winning 4 bands.

Red Bull Bedroom Jam debuted in India in 2010 and saw breakthrough bedroom bands Colossal Figures (Delhi), Inner Sanctum (Bangalore), Noiseware (Pune) and Blakc (Mumbai) join the Red Bull Bedroom Jam family of 1,500 bands in countries such as the UK, Australia, Mexico and Sweden. These winning bands got new music videos and performance slots at festivals like Bacardi NH7 Weekender, Great Indian Rock, BITS Pilani, The Tilt and Symbiosis.

 Log on to www.redbullbedroomjam.in to upload your music. Check out the Facebook page: www.facebook.com/RedBullBedroomJamIndia