Trancending the battlefield

It will be a musical kurukshetra of sorts as a legendary night awaits psytrance lovers in the city. Aptly called “Kurukshetra”, this promises to be an epic night of pure psychedelic saga on March 19, featuring the legendary Italian music gurus Arjuna and Govinda Musicco. We speak to the musical duo and brothers, on the Arjuna vs Govinda’s live musical war that’s going to take you on a high this Saturday.

All set to play under an ancient tree at Pebble in the city, Arjuna explains, “Arjuna and Krishna are the main characters of Mahabharata, that ends with a massive war between two families and the  Bhagavad Gita is a conversation between Arjuna and Krishna in the battlefield of Kurukshetra. So the idea is to have a musical war as an exchange of energies, sounds, vibes and life lessons.

We don’t really play together so often, so it’s going to be a very different experience, thanks to After Dark productions.” Govinda who has been snowed under compliments by countless fans, pipes in saying he’s excited to be in the city.

“Bengaluru has a huge crowd of psytrance lovers. Our fans are crazy and that’s why we love them! Our craze for psytrance keeps us close to them and through our music we like to help people cleanse their souls.” An Italian born in India, Govinda affirms that he was destined to live for music as, “My name is Govinda Musicco and it’s funny as my Italian surname actually means ‘Musician’. My first tryst with psytrance music was when I was eight and my brother Arjuna and I decided to take a peek at a party in Disco Valley. I was born in Italy but my parents brought me to India when I was six-months old and I started playing music when I was 16. I’ve played across Thailand, Spain, Italy, Croatia, Russia, Finland, UK, USA and many more, but Goa is in my heart. My best gig was Boom Festival 2014 in Portugal.”

Their music makes one jump up and bounce. Arjuna who creates a harmonious mood as he builds up the set with something fresh, adds, “I would go to parties with my parents and loved facepainting and everyone knew my parents, so we were well looked after. Once, at  12, in the middle of the night, I decided to go with Govinda (eight then) to the Disco Valley. That was our first tryst with a track called Total Eclipse. I grew up in Goa, the Mecca of psy trance, where we saw the evolution of this mystical genre and also recorded many albums with Parvati Records.  We have played at many music festivals across the world, but Goa is our favourite. We come to Goa for six months, as the vibes at parties there is incomparable. We love sharing our energy with our fans.”