The REINCARNATION Studio: COKE STUDIO @ MTV
Do you believe in reincarnation? If not, you will be forced to. Reincarnation is believed to occur when the soul or spirit, after the death of the body, comes back to life in a newborn body. However, once born in a new body, things from previous life are forgotten. But, there is a difference between reincarnation and REINCARNATION.
The REINCARNATION I am referring to is believed to occur when the soul or spirit, comes back to life in a newborn body, WHEN THE BODY IS STILL ALIVE. Yes, you read it right…. WHEN THE BODY IS STILL ALIVE!!! Once born in a new body, things from previous life are NOT forgotten, instead are cherished!
This was the impact that the new born baby had on me on the night of 19th May, 2011. The newly born baby is named ‘EXTRAORDINARY MUSIC’ and the mother of this baby is ‘COKE STUDIO @ MTV’.
Hold on!!! To all the people who think they are the ‘Best Critics’ in the world let me tell you ‘COKE STUDIO @ MTV’ is not about REMIXES. It is more about Fusion that adds spice to the taste of music. For example, it is like cooking Hyderabadi Biryani with the addition of Punjabi Tadka and Kolhapuri Masala to it and serving the hot Fusion Biryani along with mouth watering Bengali Sandesh(sweet). To all the booze lovers, if you don’t understand this language I would say it is a smooth cocktail that takes you high above the sky. Hope you get it right!
Again, CS@M is not restricted to fusions. An interesting thing about CS@M is it brings in the versatile talent from the corners of India and celebrates the differences in the talents on a single platform as correctly mentioned on their website. Imagine a singer like ‘Shaan’ performing with a Bengali folk artist like ‘Saurav Mandal’. Though both of them speak one common language (Bengali), the language of their music is altogether different. Well, some of you might not even know about ‘Saurav Mandal’. Now that’s the beauty of CS@M, it brings you a pool of talented artistes from the corners of India. Doesn’t it sound amazing? That’s what ‘Coke Studio @ MTV’ is all about.
To talk about my experience at CS@M, I would say I don’t get high on Daaru; I don’t get high on Suttas; the only thing that has ever made me high is CS@M. Before CS@M, I have followed Coke Studio Pakistan right from the first episode of the first season. I was amazed by the performances that I saw on Coke Studio Pakistan’s website. I thought I could never watch it live. But Shahrukh Khan’s dialogue – ‘Agar kisi cheez ko dil se chaaho to puri kayanat usey tumse milane ki koshish mein lag jaati hai’ came true for me. J
The day I read ‘Coke Studio is coming to India in a newspaper, I kept on following each and every post I could, till the day ‘Coke Studio @ MTV’s’ Facebook page was launched. And then, one day I saw a post from MTV that said ‘Those who are interested in attending Coke Studio at MTV tomorrow (and will be able to!), ping us with your contact & postal address’. That’s precisely what I was waiting for. Couldn’t resist myself in sending the details the moment I read it. But, things were not easy. I didn’t get invite. I sent it second time. Again, didn’t get any invitation. Tried third time…and finalllyyyy got an official invitation from the MTV team!!. Perhaps, the MTV team was testing my genuineness towards CS@M.
It was May 19th, 2011, 5 PM, when I reached the place I had always dreamt of. The ambience was like a typical COKE STUDIO. Thats what was expected. That ambience added to the ‘MAHAUL’ of music. For me, it was 5.5 hours of pure musical experience. I was one of the luckiest guys who got a chance to listen to Sabri brothers, Krishnakumar Kunnath and Mathangi: three different people, three different genres, and three different experiences. It started off with Sabri brothers’ Qawwali: ‘hamein to lut liya mil ke husn walon ne’ - It was the first time I listened to a live Qawwali. The Qawwali session was about to end, so couldn’t catch up much.
And then… came the most awaited singer of the day: ‘Krishnakumar Kunnath’. Well, Krishnakumar Kunnath, as his name suggests, is not a trained classical singer. He is none other than our very own K.K.. Smartly dressed K.K started off with one of my favourite tracks in his own way. Before that performance I was a huge fan of K.K. But the way he sung the song, I should say I was no more a fan of K.K. Instead, I had become ‘K.K. @ CS@M’ fan nowJ. What an astounding performance it was!! The song was completely transformed into sweet melody and the light mood of the song did justice to the ambience of the studio. It was a laidback, smoothened out version. One could have never thought about the laidback version of that song: a perfect amalgam of violin, guitar, and drums. Aaahhh….that violin, still can’t forget THAT piece of violin. It took me to ‘PARADISE’. Couldn’t have asked for more. Regret, I don’t know the name of the violinist.
The violin and guitar combination added to the soul of the song. I won’t be the right person to explain the magical effect that the violin and guitar groove had produced, but for me it was like ‘Death-by-Chocolate’ fantasy. K.K.s vocals were like a hot n soft dark chocolate brownie filled with layers of fudge (keyboard), ganache (drums), and chocolate mousse (chorus). The hot chocolate caramel (violin) was poured over a scoop of vanilla icecream (guitar) nicely placed over the dark multi-layered chocolate brownie. And the preparation was served with chopped walnuts spread around and a thin stream of raspberry syrup drizzled over in a zigzag pattern over the brownie (the entire HOUSE band)...Can still sense the distinctly fresh aroma.
The way the chopped walnuts and the raspberry syrup add to the grace of the brownie, the same way the HOUSE band adds to the glory of CS@M. The ‘HOUSE band’ heroes are the real heroes at CS@M. The moment you connect to a song recorded at CS@M, just think of this bunch of people. Ultimately, these are the magicians who create an aura at CS@M. I would like to thank CS@M for identifying the talents of these musicians who were underestimated till yesterday. They deserve the CS@M place.
To all the CS@M lovers, please cement these names at the back of your mind. These names are going to take you to the next level of music.
Acoustic Guitar - Sanjoy Das
Bass Guitar - Dibyajyoti Nath
Dholak - Deepak Bhatt
Drums - Darshan Doshi
Electric Guitar - Nyzel D'Lima
Indian Percussion - Arun Solanki
Keyboard - Zoheb Hussain
Tabla - Naveen Sharma
These people have already rocked the studio. I tell u guys, the song performed together by K.K and Mathangi at the end of the day was a slow song, which was transformed into a rock number by these people. That performance is to be watched out for!!! If u don’t trust me, tune in to MTV at 7PM on 17th June.
Before I end, I should thank someone without whom my visit to CS@M would not have been possible. That someone who invited us to the Studio and ensured that fans should get what they deserve, was none other than MTV’s ‘Nikhil Taneja’. Thanks Nikhil, you made our experience at CS@M unforgettable. Keep our names in your database for the next season. J
