Funky business
City band Sur will perform folk tunes from across India set to funk and jazz styles tonight
When Mumbai band Sur takes to the stage tonight, they will bring with them a melting pot of musical styles from all over the country. To add spice to the pot, they will present a mélange of indigenous melodies and Western arrangements.
“Apart from our originals, we will perform folk songs from Bengal, Assam, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat, set to funk and jazz arrangements,” says founder member and bassist Suresh Mendoza, who teamed up with his musician friends four months ago to form the band.
In addition to Suresh, the seven-member group comprises Arunima Bhattacharya (vocals), Glenn Fernandes (guitar), Umang Doshi (keyboard), Shashank Acharya (flute), Nitin Ramesh (drums) and Gautam Sharma (tabla).
A veteran composer, with numerous ad jingles to his credit, Suresh came up with the idea of this outfit while recording a tune at his Prabhadevi-based Glam Slam Studio. "It was my dream to form a set-up like this for quite some time. I met Arunima while working on a jingle and proposed the idea. She was game for it. Soon, others came on board and we started working on our music," he says. “I composed our originals sometime ago, but, apart from just recording them, I wanted to play them live as well.”
Recently, the band released an online video of their song ‘Kinna sona’, a Punjabi folk tune set on a jazz-funk structure and embellished with flute fillers.
At tonight's gig, the band will also have German guitarist Max Clouth collaborating with them on one of their songs, ‘Hansdhwani.’ “This song is based on the Hansdhwani raga and we've added funky elements to it,” says Suresh. Singer Sidd Coutto will also be joining them on another English number.