LPO

What??
  London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) presented its Renga Ensemble with Karnataka College of Percussion (KCP4), a Unique performance of Carnatic Jazz.

Who??
KCP4:
Scott Stroman conductor
Ramamani vocalist
T.A.S.Mani percussion
Ramesh Shotham percussion
Mike Herting piano

and Renga/London Philharmonic Orchestra musicians:
KateBirchall violin
   Chair suported by David and Victoria Graham Fuller
Fiona Higham violin
Robert Duncan viola
Santiago Sabino Carvalho cello
Laurence Lovelle double bass/guitar
Stewart Mvllwham flute
Simon Estell bassoon
Anne McAneney trumpet
    Chair supported by Geoff and Meg Mann
Richard Bissill horn
David Whitehouse trombone

Where ?? National Centre for Performing Arts, Nariman Point, Mumbai
When??  03 April '10


Arey!! Who will tell the Time??  7.00 PM


Accomplice??

1. Raghu [ My sponsor..I mean the1 who asks for his money back  with "I mean", his fav. word.. :-) ...Raghu, if you are ever reading this post, this 1's for you.."I mean what I mean,but you can't be so Mean"  :-) ]
2. Kumar[Our Mobile Camera Photographer for the day :-)]
3. K.P     [The World Touring guy and the Multi-Linguist ]

  So,it all happened in 1 go..oops..i mean in 2 go!!! Raghu asked me whether I would be interested in this show..Hmm..yeah..you guessed it right..Definitely a BIG YES from me.....it all happened in a matter of 2 days time  with Raghu booking the tickets for me and myself day dreaming and googling about the show stoppers...
And so,here we were amidst a group of Elite men all in their hot freshly ironed suits and ladies in their new designer gowns bought just for the show..

  After a mouth smacking Chutney Sandwich(Rs.20) and 1 more pack in my hand, myself and Raghu get our ass's seated in AO9 & AO10 seats of the Amphi-theater and Kumar & K.P seated at a distance.While Raghu is complaining about
the delay in the start,am busy here munching away the excellent Chutney Sandwich...yumm..really tasty..

In a few minutes,a group of musicians walk in the stage with loud applause as a background score..Introductions get over and here it starts off.....

Oh oh oh!!!! Man, we must be the really lucky ones to be here..
This has combined the classical Indian music with jazz and has some western classical influences too..The musicians and the vocalist fuse a lot of Indian folk,jazz harmonies and bass lines..Everyone in the audience are wonder-struck without even a blink!!

My favorites being the "17th Crossroad", "Bangalore" and "Guru"...
The interval is on with myself grabbing a Chicken Sandwich (Rs.30) while the other 3 guys are busy discussing about the scores of "Mumbai Indians Vs Deccan Chargers" IPL match..A cold coffee also follows...
In again and applauses again..the show is fantastic..ends with a "once more" request with Mike Herting the pianist giving 1 of his compositions...

Myself, Kumar and Raghu head to the stage and get the autographs of Scott Stroman (i get a photograph with him),Ramamani and Ramesh Shotham against their pictures in the booklet..Scott was a nice guy asking us their performance.I say " It was too good to hear and though am much into Rock Music, I would definitely get the CD's of Jazz right away"..He thanked us for coming to their show...... handshakes,byes and off into our taxis, into our trains towards home sweet home...