Mauritius may be famous for its sandy beaches and as the erstwhile home of the (extinct) Dodo. But ever since the band Dodo Crew (comprising Thiruvananthapuram-based rock artistes and Mauritian vocalist, Vaanu C Pillai) made its television début in April, fans of the hit indie-music show Music Mojo have been associating the island with music. Now, to celebrate the launch of their début album, Parakkiraen, the eight-piece band is coming to Cafe Papaya, Kochi, this weekend.
A strong start
Dodo Crew’s line-up is like the who’s who of the capital’s indie scene—with artistes like Arun Dutt (guitar, Pathayam), Joe Johnson (keyboards, Job Kurian Collective), Babu Vivek (lead guitar, Saptak), Arun Kumar (percussions, Pathayam) and Rohith L T (drums, Pathayam). In fact, Pillai says its formation was quite serendipitous. A trained Carnatic singer, Pillai—who, despite having lived in the UK for the past 15 years, considers herself “a fourth generation Tamil Mauritian with strong Indian roots”—had come to India last year to create a Tamil music album. “I met the crew through a random jam session and we synced so well that we decided to start a band and work on an album,” she says. Now the Dodo Crew is back in India after a seven-stop tour of Mauritius, where they launched their album. While there, they also recorded a music video for their single, Yengo Yen Manam, which premiered on MTV Indies last month.
Pitch perfect
The 40-minute album contains six Tamil tracks—all of which have elements of pop infused with progressive rock—including Vidukathai, one of its most a popular tracks. “The album chronicles a girl’s love story and how she transcends the various stages of a relationship. It is called Parakkiraen (flying) because every song contains that word,” explains Pillai, elaborating, “Besides the six tracks—penned by Lawrence Ramu (vocalist of Tamil rock band Jhanu)—the album also includes a remixed track called Sollamalae. It is a techno-ish remix by Jackson Vijayan, whose brother (guitarist/composer) Rex Vijayan produced the album,” she smiles.
In Kochi, the band will be playing their own compositions and a few of their popular covers, including Entharo Mahannu. “After our gig, we’ll start working on tour dates for Chennai. But our Malayali fans can expect to see us next in Thiruvananthapuram in August, at the Uthrada Chinthu music festival,” concludes Rohith.
August 1, from 8 pm, at Cafe Papaya. Rs 250. Details: 9895019900