Bengaluru Habba

Nothing can compare with the experience of listening to a band for the first time, at a live concert, and loving it. I've managed that a few times at Bangalore (Advaita, Motherjane, Thermal and a Quarter). Thanks to a certain Mogambo's scouting skills, I managed to catch the last of the Jazz concerts at the Bengaluru Habba- the Amit Heri Quartet (Amit Heri + Maarten Visser + Keith Peters + Jeoraj) and blues band Soulmate, from Shillong.

The stage / Amit Heri / Tipriti Kharbangar

photo credit: Siddharth Mohanty

Lesson learnt after the Indian Ocean gig, this time I took along a black gel pen, oil pastels and my neon crayolas, last year's birthday gift from a Sighing Billi. The setting was so lovely, I just had to draw- open skies at the UB City rooftop amphitheatre. I only wish we didn't have the UB tower as a backdrop to the whole thing.

Amit Heri was a lot more jazz-ey than Prasanna was, but one could make out the Indian classical music touches to most of the pieces. (Again, especially with the names-like Incidental Kalyani. Is there something about Kalyani and fusion music? Prasanna has a track called Kalyani Connection).

Soulmate was a revelation. I was playing their music on loop off the internet for a week, but at the concert, I was far more fascinated with the lead singer Tipriti 'Tips' Kharbangar. You will have to watch videos of their gigs (or even better, catch them live) to get what I mean about Tips. These sketches do no justice to the energy she had on stage.

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Conclusions after a series of concert drawings:

- I like drawing drums and mikes.

- Guitars are best drawn while they are being played.

- Women are more fun to draw than men.

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