World music comes calling

This weekend brings a treat for music lovers, as they can sway to the sounds of jazz, country, pop and blues by 20 bands from all over the world, playing at an ongoing music festival in the city. The festival, Seagram’s 100 Pipers India Music Week II, aims to encourage independent musicians. “Promoting independent music bands from across the world is one of the main objective behind this event,” says Vibhu Sharma, director of the festival.

Today, the festival will see French band Jil is Lucky, Lemaitre from Norway, Dualist Inquiry from Delhi and the Mumbai-based Donn Bhat. However, the highlight of the day will be electronic band Shrilektric and rapper Lord Kimo jamming together for the first time. “I will be playing the bass guitar, flute, sarangi and cello, along with techno beats, as Kimo raps about his experience in Delhi,” says Shrikanth Shriram from Shirlektric. “I love Delhi, it’s so similar to my hometown in Philippines, except that Delhi has more people,” says Kimo.

French Band Jil is Lucky is also excited about their first performance in the city. “We will be singing most of the songs from our second album, which I wrote while touring India,” says Jil. The week will come to an end with a final performance by Indian band Midival Punditz tomorrow. “Though Delhi has been home to us for the last 15 years, this event will give us the opportunity to experiment with new sounds. Keeping in mind the enthusiastic Delhi crowd, we will be playing high-energy electronic music for the finale,” says Gaurav Raina from Midival Punditz.

The festival also saw acts by 15 international bands like Chirkutt from Bangladesh, Dub Inc. from France and an off-beat jam session between Delhi-Based rock band Parikrama with 12 well known artists such as Rabbi Shergill who surprised the audience with his rendition of the Jimmi Hendrix song, Hey Jo. The event also saw singer Rahul Ram from Indian Ocean singing Stairway to Heaven as an ode to Amit Saigal - founder of the week, while comedian Vir Das sang a soulful Beatles number in a marked deviation from his usual comedy avatar.