09 December,2010 10:25 AM IST | | Prachi Sibal
With influences from all across the place, Kolkata band Kendraka dreams of sharing stage with the likes of Pandit Ravi Shankar and Zakir Hussain
What happens when a bunch of musicians decide to put all their influences together and churn out a single melody? Kendraka, a band from Kolkata is coming this Friday to give you a teaser. Watch Hindustani and Carnatic classical music, hard core rural folk of West Bengal, Purulia and Bankura, Jazz, Rock, Blues, RnB and Afro music blend on stage to produce Kendraka's own sound.
The line-up includes Mainak "Bumpy" Nag Chowdhury on bass guitar and compositions, Bodhisattwa Ghosh on guitars, Jivraj Singh on the drums and Soumyajyoti Ghosh on the flute. Formed two and half years ago by Bumpy for a Kolkata- based jazz festival, Kendraka has only two musicians from its original line-up, who will be performing at their first Bangalore gig.
"We played as a trio for a while and then realized we needed another melody player," says Bampy. "We like to play and cheer and will bring to the city an hour and a half of honest original music," he adds.
Talking about how the name of the band came about Bumpy says, "Kendraka is just a fancy name for the nucleus of an atom and we decided to name it so as the band is a place/ core for original music." "We named the band nearly a year and a half after its formation," he adds.
On a show to promote their recent album Tathastu, the band will showcase a good number of songs from this album and also a few from their previous ones in an hour and a half of a power packed performance.
The band finds it hard to describe their sound as a whole and dreams of sharing stage with the likes of Pandit Ravi Shankar and Zakir Hussain. "Pandit Ravi Shankar is the one who put India on the world map. When we (Bumpy and Bodhisattwa) encountered him for the first time at his home we were at a loss of words the moment he arrived," Bumpy recounts.
All except one of the band members have been full time musicians and part of other Kolkata bands like Skinny Alley. Recounting an unforgettable stage incident Bumpy tells us, "During our third performance at Blue Frog in Mumbai, our guitarist had taken ill.
Despite having given up all hopes of him landing at the show, he went to the doctor for extra shots and made it to stage, after which he collapsed again and took a few weeks to recover." "During the show nobody could tell that he was in such excruciating pain," he adds.
At: bFlat, Indiranagar
On: December 10, 8.30 pm
Call: 4241 4000
For: Rs 200
