Malhar Ke Prakar – An evening of monsoon ragas

The name of the event was indeed inviting. With the rain clouds giving a break in Mumbai, an evening of different versions of Raag Malhar was pleasing. For those of you who are unaware of the connection between Malhar and the Monsoons, let me share a well-known legend.

‘Sad’dled on Sax

It is highly unlikely that the name of Ryan Sadri will vanish from the tongues of jazz devotees anytime soon. Especially not after the memorable and extraordinary live performance at the Tata Theatre NCPA on Saturday evening. An advocate for jazz for many years, Sadri accompanied by his band The Soul City consisting of a few young cats, brought out the soul, funk and blues to a captive audience.

The Blues just gets better with Simply the Blues.

The third edition of Simply the Blues had exciting UK blues guitar veteran Mick Clarke and his band as the headlining act for the evening. Simply the Blues has been an initiative by Anil Mehta’s StarKonnect Events to popularize this genre of music in India in its purest form. The event was held at St Andrews auditorium Bandra on Saturday 27th October 2014.

Sula gives another top notch evenings to remember

Sula Vineyards, Nashik resonated to the sound of music when the annual festival Sulafest came alive on the 1st and 2nd of February. It was the perfect day out for wine aficionados, food lovers and those seeking quality recreation and live entertainment to let their hair down and party. With the chilly weather just right, it was the perfect dose for an evening of music, wine and entertainment with the right set of people.

The Alex Machacek Trio leaves Mumbai enchanted.

He is one of the few artists who have managed to be showered upon by a lot of praise by the renowned John McLaughlin, Allan Holdsworth and the late Shawn Lane. Alex Machacek, the Austrian jazz fusion guitarist is one lucky fellow to be in the league of a selected few who is regarded as the best of the best.

Lavasa’s F.A.M.E, a benchmark for future events

Lavasa, India’s first planned hill city, recently hosted its first ever three day Food-Art-Music-Entertainment Festival (FAME 2014) from May 30 to June 01, 2014 giving a chance to thousands of holiday lovers to make a quick getaway from the hustle and bustle of the city for some cool weekend partying.

JAZZ – An English Musical Play: Theatre Review

Slick humor and nostalgia blended perfectly in JAZZ – An English Musical Play, that showcased the Anglo Indian and more specifically the Goan migration to Bombay in the early 1950s to the late 70s. The migration was not only for a better home, but more so for a career in the music industry which was known as Bollywood. This period offered employment opportunities for the talented Goan lad who was well endowed in Western music, more importantly jazz music.

English diva Dana Gillespie paints it blue at The Taj

Setting the tempo of the beginning of celebrations for the legendary hotel’s 110th anniversary on 16th December, 2013, British Blues singer-songwriter and actress Dana Gillespie enthralled guests with her eccentric performance at Starboard, The Taj Mahal Palace, Mumbai. Laced with catchy one liners, Dana gave the motley crowd more than they ever asked for. Backed ably on piano by boogie - woogie man Joaquim Palden, the night belonged to her rightly so, even though Palden gave out some brilliant solo pieces on the piano. Dana also played the piano with Palden on a few tracks, bringing out her true musical skills of a musician.

Anoushka Shankar leaves Mumbaiites spellbound.

Sitar player and composer Anoushka Shankar one of the leading figures in World Music today, played her first concert at the Shanmukhananda auditorium in Mumbai on Thursday 12th December. Barely a day after the first anniversary of her late father and guru the legendary Ravi Shankar, Anoushka was in her element playing rich tributes to her father as well as tracks from her newly released album Traces of You.