Band of brothers: Local musicians to collaborate with different bands

It’s not uncommon for musicians to collaborate with each other to create foot tapping and catchy tunes. But today, apart from collaborations on tracks, musicians have also begun to perform live sessions with each other and are stepping out of their ‘genre-zone’.

Rock musicians are performing alongside jazz artistes, and blues musicians are experimenting with swing and funk! And local musicians seem to be openly embracing the trend today.

The practice which was previously a form of sustenance for musicians has now turned out to be much more. “Most artistes today want to explore different genres with different musicians and are also therefore open to more opportunities,” explains Frijo Francis, of Frijo’s Not Yet Jazz.

“Collaborating for live performances is incredible as it tends to bring different flavours and genres of each musician through the collaboration,” continues the local jazz musician.

While it’s more about opportunities for some, for others, collaborations are much more. “I like collaborating with artistes from other genres because I get to learn so much about my own trade through them. Through collaborations, we get insight on how to merge tunes of different genres and imbibe one style of music in another. I started using blues tunes in pop music which gave it an unexpected vibe and turned out to be a hit in the audience!” says Sudhakar Prabhu of the Aayushi Karnik Trio, who has ventured into jazz and blues, after being a rock musician.

But it’s not as easy as it sounds, as a certain amount of training is required to understand the genre better. “It is very important for musicians to have some information about the genre beforehand as it’s just not possible to perform or collaborate without training,” says Ramanan Chandramouli, of Blushing Satellite who has performed and collaborated live with a number of local bands like Thermal and A Quarter and Mad Orange.

“Along with training, artistes should also be familiar with their audience’s tastes to know what will work for them, because ultimately, they’re the ones listening to it,” adds Sudhakar Prabhu, in conclusion.