CHENNAI: The city will reveberate with diverse musical rhythms from all over the world on the eve of, and on World Music Day. While BIG FM organises a special on-air show by Comagan and his ‘Raaga Priya’ Orchestra - A group of visually challenged musicians ( who made a brief appearance in Cheran’s Autograph in the song Ovvoru pookalume), the Alliance Francaise and Madras Terrace House have laid out day-long events to remind us of the only art that binds numerous cultures and people in hope.
Madras Terrace House
The evening will begin with a performance by ‘Subject to Change’, an exclusively acoustic band; essentially 70’s and 80’s junkies, rooted in rock, folk, blues and rock ‘n’ roll, with swirls of r & b, indie and alternative, mixed in with a healthy dose. The band, as the members claim, “has a pretty mad mix of people and music; poor, talented and unemployed (Aakash Jacob and Toby Joseph), struggling, wonderful artist (Anisha Sarah Verghese), perennially broke, psychotic academic (Anjana Raghavan), rising star singer (Benny Dayal) and rock steady Abe (Abraham Varghese ). It has been over a year since they got together to perform at an acoustic festival in Chennai.
The one thing that has established itself in their music, according to them is their “style”. As a band they promise to be all about spontaneity and constant surprises. So, watch out for Subject to Change on June 20 at 7pm at The Madras Terrace House, 2nd street, Sri Puram, Royapettah.
Alliance Francaise of Madras
The French Embassy in India in association with AFM, presents a weekend of delicious French food and rocking music with the French group KWAK and 20 bands from all over India, which play rock, jazz, hip hop, metal and rap .Kwak, with Damien Tartamella (lead vocals, harmonica), Julien Joubert (guitars, vocals), Xavier Hamon (percussions, drums) and0 Guillaume Le Nost (bass guitar, flute, vocals), is a rock band from Paris, France. For their second tour in India, they will present their 3rd album, “Malice en la demeure”. They call their music “French Rock”, which is a very special mix between rock music and the French tradition of “Chanson”.
The band was formed in 2002. They had their first concerts in Paris and West of France. In 2004, Kwak won several prizes and played at Solidays Festival (Paris). In 2007, Kwak performed its 300th concert, and sold its 10.000th album. Kwak hails from Paris, France.
The performances will be on all day at the Alliance Francaise auditorium from 10.00 am to 10.00 pm. Fete de la Musique will also be celebrated by the DJs of participating night clubs, Bunkers, Ten Downing street, Rhapsody and Zara.
Indian artists unite for an all-day concert at Alliance Francaise, including several from Chennai. Null Friction, the hard rock band from Chennai, though currently based in the U.S., will be present, along with other bands from the metal genre such as By His Bleeding Side, and Atmosfear from Mumbai. Although many of these artists have music mostly from western influences such as American hard-rock and metal, many of the groups claim a diverse amount of inluences from all four corners of the globe to incorporate their music.
Other bands to note include Peter Kappi, the social/political rap artist which incorporates ragas and other worldly rhythms, (that’s the artist name not a person’s name actually) lead by Sophy Ashraf, and Osher Moosica, a latin jazz fusion group which has been playing in many various venues across India. “Osher Moosica” actually isn’t Spanish or Portugese despite musical influences. It’s a Hebrew phrase meaning: “Music Creates Happiness”. Other groups include Armor of God, Skrat, Subject to Change, and Sunstroke 16 which is based in Bangalore.The show will be on at from 10 am to 10 pm at Top Storey, Alliance Fracais of Madras on Sunday, June 21.
