For starters there is classical Indian music which revolves heavily around several different percussion instruments and of course the ever popular Sitar. On Friday we went to a classical Indian music concert. The main attraction was a Tabla master named Fazal who was joined by several other percussionists, musicians, vocalists, a full Rajastani Band, and an Indian dancer. The concert started with Fazal and some of his students on the Tabla. Here's a clip:
Later on Fazal was joined by a Pakavag player, which is a two sided drum. Though this guy looked kind of like the Indian Weird Al Yankovich, he was undeniably sick. They were also joined by male and female vocalists at different points as well as the other percussionists and musicians and the dancer. The dancer was very impressive because she was not only dancing but also telling a story with her dance and acting as a musician playing along with the percussionists using the bells attached to her ankles.
Eventually the Rajastani band started playing. First they were introduced by their mouth harp player who plays that thing like I never thought possible. If you note the guy in black with the colorful turban in the Rajastani band, he was my absolute favorite because he sat there perfectly still like a total badass and was the absolute last person on stage to play anything but when he did he was not only an amazing musician but an extremely entertaining performer, getting up on his knees and really getting into it. Tons of build and twice the payoff, as a fellow entertainer I respect nothing more.
Towards the end all of the major percussionists started a beat up and started passing it around, it was awesome.
A part of me wanted to and tried to get the grand finale but at some point I stopped worrying about catching it on video and just enjoyed it for myself, sorry. Regardless, if you ever have a chance to see some classical Indian music I highly recommend it. Here's a bit more of Fazal the Tabla Master though:
Afterwards we were able to go and meet the performers because Denise happens to be a big deal tabla player around these parts and knows Fazal personally. I met my hero, the castanet master as well as Fazal and I saw Weird Al Patel up close but he snuck off before I could introduce myself or get a picture (my biggest failure since I got here).
Update:
Sorry it's taken so long but I've been away for four days, more on that in the next post. Anyways, Saturday night we went to The Blue Frog which is the hottest club in Bombay and ranked as one of the ten best clubs in the world. It's a really sick atmosphere (I highly recommend the virtual tour) and it's not just a club but also a record label with a recording studio right next door (which of course we got a VIP tour of). The studio was sick and Denise's friend Carissa is friends with Mahesh Mathai part owner of the club and film maker. He mostly does commercials here but his film Bhopal Express apparently did quite well on the festival circuit. Anyways, like I said we got the VIP status there, he covered our drinks and appetizers and the place was amazing from the wicked cool bar and layout to the bathrooms with a joystick-like faucet control. Unfortunately we had made dinner plans with a friend across town and had to leave about a half an hour before DJ Ankytrixx, a DJ from Nepal was scheduled to come on and they were to have their first ever "Neon Night" (basically a cool light show over the audience who were all asked to wear white). We did however get to hear a recording of an awesome fusion performance between a tabla player and an electronica group called Midival Punditz which was spectacular.
Moral of the story: Indian music comes in many forms, all of which seem to be very very cool.
Denise Playing Tabla -Best White, Female Tabla Player There Is
Blue Frog's Studio A Control Panel
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