CHENNAI: Having taken lessons from waiters in the Tapas bar, the Mulatta Trio band can now sing koothu songs proficiently. Sounds absurd? Mulatta Trio is a Columbian band, who is in the city making Chennaiites groove to their Mediterranean tunes has also turned to some koothu folk genre by singing Appidi Podu with the right pronunciation.
Giving City Express an exclusive glimpse of their music, the trio — percussionist, singer Aldo Rodriguez; singer, guitar player Jennifer Chacon and singer Carolina Salazar chat with us about their musical journey. Husband-wife duo Jennifer and Aldo started Mulatta a few years ago. The couple roped in other musicians, and performed with them on different occasions.
As a first-timer in Chennai, Carolina loves her first overseas trip to India. But Aldo has been associated with Chennai for long. “I come from a family of musicians and have been performing for 25 years now. I had come to Chennai 10 years ago to play at Tapas bar. Latin tunes were quite new then but it was so easy to connect with the people and the music here. If you ask anyone here, who Jorge (my real name) is, they wouldn’t know but ask for Aldo and ‘heyyyyy Aldo!’ comes the response,” he grins.
The trio plays a lot of percussion instruments. Jennifer, though a vocalist, can play guiro, maracas, bongo and guitar. “I love music but I’m not fond of sad tunes or the ones that only talk about sex, drugs and alcohol. I write happy songs about love, life and peace. Music is supposed to make people happy!” laughs Jennifer who then hummed another Indian tune that sounded vaguely familiar.
“Whenever we play or hum this tune, people instantly seem to recognise it in the North, but I still haven’t figured out the name of the song,” she adds. We spent the next 20 minutes trying to guess, google and figure out the tune but no luck.
When we asked them about the songs they usually sing, the answer was instant. “Shakira! Everyone seems to know and recognise her songs. They are familiar to her English songs, so we try to introduce her Spanish numbers. They hum along and dance to our tunes,” says Aldo. “We were pleasantly surprised when the crowd showcased their leg work with salsa, cha cha cha and some crazy bachata moves.”
(To know more, visit www.mulattaband.net and catch them live at The Tapas Bar and Restaurant on June 25, 8pm. For details call 28111462)