Gig Picks

Soulmate.

SHAA’IR + FUNC, SOULMATE
Where: Hard Rock Cafe, Bombay Dyeing Mill Compound, Pandurang Budhkar Marg, near Deepak Talkies, Worli. Tel: 2438 2888.
When: Tuesday, March 8 at 8.30pm.
Entrance fee: Rs500 per head.
Tuesday, March 8 is International Women’s Day and Hard Rock Cafe is organising a fund-raising concert to mark the event. The proceeds will be donated to Akshara, an NGO that works towards gender equality. Likewise, when it came to picking female-fronted acts to perform at the gig, Hard Rock couldn’t have done any better. Although female-fronted isn’t exactly the appropriate term to describe either electro-pop-rock act Shaa’ir + Func or blues rock band Soulmate. Both are essentially duos with female singers and male guitarist-composers, where the respective partnerships are equal between Monica “Shaa’ir” Dogra and Randolph “Func” Correia and Tipriti “Tips” Kharbangar and Rudy Wallang. However, Dogra and Kharbangar are arguably the two finest female singers and performers in Indian indie and their concert at Hard Rock will be a rare chance to see them both on the same night.

ARTIES FESTIVAL
Where: National Centre for the Performing Arts, Nariman Point. Tel: 6622 3737.
When: Wednesday, March 9 at the Tata Theatre at 7pm; Thursday, March 10 and Saturday, March 12 at the Experimental Theatre at 7pm.
Tickets: Wednesday, March 9: Rs200, Rs300 and Rs500. Thursday, March 10 and Saturday, March 12: Rs300 and Rs500.
The Arties Festival, started in March 2008 by French cellist Gauthier Herrmann, is now as regular a feature of Mumbai’s Western classical music calendar as the Symphony Orchestra of India’s seasonal concerts and Sangat, the Mehli Mehta Music Foundation’s annual chamber music festival. Like Sangat, the Arties Festival treats listeners to performances of chamber music by internationally renowned instrumentalists. Works by Schubert, Beethoven, Brahms, Debussy, Dvorak, and Ravel form the programme of the seventh edition of the festival, where the performers include French string quartet Quatuor Ebene, who in 2009 were awarded Best Recording of the Year by UK-based Western classical music magazine Gramophone.

KRIS CORREYA
Where: 183 Waterfield Road,
off Linking Road, Bandra (West). Tel: 6643 0670.
When: Thursday, March 10 at 10.30pm.
Once beloved, now beleaguered bar Zenzi may have lost its outside section (and as a result, some of its vibe) but the management is hoping to re-establish the venue’s reputation as one of Bandra’s creative hotbeds. On Thursday, Zenzi will launch “The Art Exposure”, a new series of weekly events relating to music, poetry, painting, photography and the like. First up is a month-long exhibition of concert photography by Kunal Kadodkar and Tamagna Ghosh, two fine lensmen who are fixtures at almost every indie rock show in the city. On display will be images from gigs by such popular acts as Pentagram, Motherjane and yes, even Bryan Adams. The launch will also feature a set by Zenzi’s former resident DJ Kris Correya that will have a “mix of house, soul and a little bit of glitch”.

ANGELIQUE KIDJO
Where: Blue Frog, Mathuradas Mills Compound, Tulsi Pipe Road, Lower Parel. Tel: 4033 2300. Tata Theatre, National Centre for the Performing Arts, Nariman Point. Tel: 6622 3737.
When: Blue Frog: Thursday, March 10 at 10pm. NCPA: Friday, March 11 at 7.30pm.
Tickets: Blue Frog: Rs2,000 per head. NCPA: Rs400, Rs800 and Rs1,200 per head.
World music superstar Angelique Kidjo told us that we can expect to hear her biggest hits like “Agolo”, “Tumba”, and “Afirika” as well as songs from her latest album, 2010’s Oyo at her concerts this week. The newer tracks include her cover of 1950s Hindi film song “Dil Mein Chuppa Ke”. Read the interview here.

BOMBAY BASSMENT
Where: Hanging Gardens, Malabar Hill. Call 98196 89544 for further details.
When: Saturday, March 12 at 5.30pm.
Entrance fee: Free.
In 2010, the Bombay Chamber of Commerce and Industry decide to revive the tradition of free, outdoor music concerts that began in the city in the 1850s by putting bands back in the city’s bandstands. Rock bands now take the place of regimental bands but the spirit behind the concerts remains the same: to bring people together through the power of music. The 2011 edition of the Bandstand Revival gigs, which will run through till May, starts this weekend, with performances by Hindi rock band Pradakshinam (Sanskrit for “circumambulation”) and hip hop group Bombay Bassment at Hanging Gardens. Bob Marley fans will be happy to know that Bombay Bassment’s hour-long set will include a four-song-medley of the reggae legend’s tunes.