HYDERABAD: One of Bollywood’s biggest playback singers Benny Dayal and musician, composer and percussionist Karsh Kale are in town to perform for the city after a long break. Benny will also be performing with his band Funktuation, and one can only imagine what the stage with all of them together would look like!
This gig would mark the Badtameez Dil singer’s first performance in Hyderabad. “I heard a lot about the crowd here and I expect music lovers to be all that and more as we perform for Hyderabadis. We’re always used to playing to large crowds and the pandemic was a dampener. Since I heard that the venue is going to be huge, which will be able to house hundreds of people, I’m greatly looking forward to this,” an excited Benny shares.
Karsh, who is not new to Hyderabad’s crowd, says he loves the vibe music lovers in the city give out. “This is going to be one of my first live shows post the pandemic, so it’s equal parts exciting and scary, with the old-school butterflies. The coolest part about the crowd here is that they’ve watched different formats of my performances and have been so welcoming of them all, so I know what Saturday’s going to be like,” he tells CE.
The energy that the two artists give out on their own, when performing, is infectious. And to have them both together is a treat Hyderabadis are eagerly looking forward to. On working with each other again, Karsh says, “We haven’t seen each other in a long time, and things and people change quickly these days. But once we got together for this show, we were back with the same energy we shared back then.” Benny adds, “Apart from my filmy shows, Karsh is the one I’ve performed with the most, and I feel the most comfortable when sharing the stage with him.”
Benny’s band Funktuation (from Chennai) is one of the best the country has to offer in the funk genre. “Funk has my heart, and all of us, as part of the band, do what we do because we love and enjoy doing it. We’ve done some covers and written original music too. We recently thought, being Tamilians (Benny grew up in Chennai), we ought to make Tamil music, and are currently working on that,” Benny reveals. Benny, Karsh and Funktuation will perform at Heart Cup Coffee, Gachibowli, at 8 pm on Saturday. On working with Happydemic and Teachers 50, they say it has been the right blend of fun with high energy!