CHENNAI:The city experienced a concoction of violin, keyboard, saxophone and flute taking over dhol and Bollywood tunes at Phoenix MarketCity recently. Thanks to Anna Mateva (violin), Abonima Suslova (keyboard), Yelyza Zaboroshko (saxophone) and Daria Yashyna (flute), the all-women band ‘International Symphony’ from Ukraine, who were in the city to strike the right notes.
The girls met each other during an international gig and struck a chord instantly. “Since then we have been performing together but, we do individual shows too. We constantly travel to different countries,” says Anna.The ensemble’s first show was in London and the four-day event brought them closer. “We are often asked if our journey was challenging. Our unity is our strength so, we didn’t have too many problems. Our first show as a band went on for four days...though it was tiring, we enjoyed it!” says Yelyza.
They are no strangers to Indian music as they often listen to compositions by AR Rahman and renditions of Arjit Singh. “Indians are very respectful of artistes and we also listen to songs of Sonu Nigam. We have performed several Bollywood songs and that’s our signature when we come to India,” says Daria.They share that being a woman is a gift. “We have to cherish this life, love ourselves and also entertain people.”