Musical ties that bind

Karsh Kale plays the drums at a gig with Midival Punditz

This happened so far back that this writer doesn't even remember what year it was, though it was definitely before 2009. Karsh Kale and Midival Punditz were playing a gig at a Kolkata club. The venue was packed to the brim, because accessing such top-quality musicians who delve in electronica was as rare in India back then as finding an oasis in a desert is. And the crowd wasn't disappointed, because the artistes played such a memorable set that it is still fresh in our ears, with especially one track - Banao banao - standing out for its Shiva-inspired lyrics and transcendental beats.

But Kale's association with Gaurav Raina and Tapan Raj - the two Midival Punditz members - goes back to around a decade even before that Kolkata concert, he tells us ahead of a gig that the trio will play in Mumbai this evening. They first met in London in 1999, which set the ball rolling for a relationship that would have been fit for a romantic novel had it involved lovers. "We became the best of friends from the moment we met. Back then, we were all young with lots to prove, and we started working together since we were on the same musical mission - taking the best parts of Indian classical and bringing it together with electronic music," the tabla maestro says, adding that they were eventually signed to the same record label, playing hundreds of festivals together and DJing all over the place.

But how has this long and fruitful relationship been mutually beneficial? The artistic symbiosis, Kale answers, was based on the fact that while he brought a sense of musicianship to the table with his tabla training, Raina and Raj were way more tech-savvy than him. "They thus became better musicians over the years, while my production skills improved," he says, adding, "But besides that, it was really about them opening more doors for me in India, and once I had helped establish our label deals in America, it was about me opening doors for them in the US."

Well, the doors to the Lower Parel venue open at 8 pm this evening, and we ask Kale what the gig will entail. He replies that it will be a fun night of some nostalgic tracks and others they have composed over the past two years, which they haven't really had the chance to play live yet. But is Banao banao on the set-list? Kale laughs and answers, "Probably not," before adding a hopeful ‘maybe', meaning that the only option left for us is to actually attend the gig and find out for ourselves.

On: Today, 8 pm
At: AntiSocial, Mathuradas Mill Compound, Lower Parel
Log on to: instamojo.com
Cost: Rs 800