October 10, 2013: Andheri’s Kino 108 hosted its fortnightly installment of Fresh Talent Bomb Thursdays recently. First up on the dais was singer/songwriter Charan Singh Pathania. The Providence guitarist’s music was light as a feather, and was largely accentuated by the fact that he never once stopped smiling through his set. His songs are a happy contrast to the droopy sets most Hindi singer/songwriters tend to delve into, and has just about the right amount of musicality to appeal to independent artist lovers, as well as mainstream masses. Also, him playing Maa from “Taare Zameen Par” for his mum in the audience was very cute. Major aww points right there.
Mohit Mukhi was up next with a light and lyrically chirpy set. His set also had a very a very melancholic feel, especially in his song Lucky Man. With his music becoming more popular and widespread, Mukhi could soon be like the Pied Piper of this city, getting followers by the droves.
The Vicious Circle took the stage next, and the band’s electrifying set, made up of songs related to social themes, got the crowd in a total frenzy right from the word go. While every member of the band seemed to be at their elemental best, their guitarist Abel Zeliang seemed to be on another realm altogether, so seamlessly blending leads and rhythms, while pacing around like, “bleh, what the hell, this is child’s play!”. Also, it was super fun to hear audiences shouting out “Abbajaan,” during their final song. Unfortunately, the vocalist of the band, Rahul Pandey (who ironically had just joined the band) decided to call it quits post the gig.
Progressive alt rockers Grasshopper were the second band to play on stage, and true to the sound of their album “Mirrors Of The Mind”, their set was replete with plenty of samples and effects. Though the vocalist seemed to have not been entirely in his comfort zone, possibly owing to a shortened set, their set pronounced loud and clear the intent in their music: to purvey heap loads of introspection and deep thought. The performance could do with intermittent use of visuals, as their music is cinematic psychedelic, but being only their second gig, this will only get better.
The last act on stage was Jeet Zitar, the moniker of DJ Jeet Gupta, who mixed music live to create a very earthy, natural sound. A set that was primarily a concoction of Indian classical music elements with western electronic music, Jeet Zitar’s music at Fresh Talent BOMB Thursdays could very well have played through the night, and those enjoying the set would wait back as long as it continued. It was also good to see Gupta in his element, enjoying every second of his set, and big kicks to him for mixing music as awesomely as he did.
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Pictures: Dhananjay Mane
