Half an Oasis is not a Mirage

Oasis have split. What will the repercussions be?

Nigel Britto

The millions who have been crying their hearts out since Brit-pop band Oasis broke up last year have reason to rejoice. Liam, the younger of the Brothers Gallagher who formed the crux of the band during its golden years, has finally given us a glimmer of what his new band, Beady Eyes, might sound like when they release their debut album sometime next year. The band's first track, Bring the light, was made available as a free download on November 10. Verdict ? Well, for starters, Liam's much-hyped Beatles influence is evident right at the beginning and continues throughout. Second, it's a clever response to the weird situation he finds himself in post the split: anything that sounded like Oasis would get attacked, and anything that did not sound like Oasis would get attacked. Bring the light is a good balancing act, yet a few fans on web forums trashed it, palpably still angry with Liam for forcing big brother Noel to resign. Numerically and statistically, there's not much difference between Oasis and Beady Eyes. 

Liam is backed by Andy Bell, Gem Archer and Chris Sharrock, who formed the rest of Oasis. The only missing link is Noel Gallagher, the vocalist and lead guitarist who quit the band after a major backstage tiff last year, in which he allegedly had his guitar broken by Liam. The incident heightened the rage against the younger Gallagher, oft-despised by fans and observers for his swagger, alcoholism and drug-fuelled tantrums. 

The release of Beady Eyes' single and their decision to make it a free download is unlike anything Oasis has done before. It might also raise the eyebrows of people who doubt Liam's ability to single-handedly manage the show. The first listen to Bring the light reveals a few things straight up: lyrical portions that could sometimes be described as clichêd (Baby hold on, baby come on), a stolen guitar riff (ripped from the Beatles' Everybody's got something to hide except me and my monkey), Liam's Lennon-ish voice and a Billy Preston-like piano accompaniment. The song is about a relationship that's thriving because it isn't perfect, and the tune is built around a Beatlesesque rock 'n' roll riff. 

But, there are a few pleasant surprises. With U2 producer Steven Lillywhite on board, there seems to be a marked change in the music. There's also more space for individual musicians to display their talent, and younger brother Liam seems to be enjoying himself (at least in the video). Another good thing is that with the band's debut album expected sometime next year, things can only get better, since Beady Eyes is made up of accomplished musicians who've been in the industry long enough to know not to give out their best track for free. In addition to the download, the song was also released as a limited edition 7" vinyl single. All 4, 000 copies were sold the day they went on sale. 

A pertinent question arises: what can Oasis fans expect from the band's forthcoming album? Observers are expecting a deep nod to the Beatles. Yet, Lillywhite says the album will be nothing like Bring the light. "The rest of the songs are very varied, " he said on Twitter. Liam, too, has big plans, including playing at England's historic 100 Club. "( I) fancy playing again there with the mighty Beady Eye, " he wrote, referring to London's oldest venue for live music where he had played with Oasis in 1994. The Club, which is facing closure because of high rentals, is the centre of a high-profile campaign to save it, with backers including Mick Jagger and Paul Weller. 

Liam also has good support from Alan McGee, who first signed Oasis to his label, Creation, in 1993 and was responsible for propelling them to stardom. Apart from slamming fans for criticising the band, he also wondered how it was possible to condemn a band after just one tune. "Let's hear the album, " McGee recently told a music website, adding that a band that has a frontman like Gallagher and guitarist like Andy Bell (" right up there with Jimmy Page" ) can't possibly be a bad band. Beady Eyes recently announced their spring tour starting March next year. In all probability, the album will be released soon thereafter. 

Looking back in anger:

Formed in 1991 by Noel and Liam Gallagher, Oasis is one of the leading bands of the Brit-pop revolution. Largely seen as the most legitimate successor to The Beatles, the band has sold over 70 million records. During the initial years, the Gallagher brothers dropped Lennon's name in practically every interview. The band's popularity waned during the late nineties but they returned with a bang in 2005 with their sixth album, Don't believe the truth. 2008 brought the landmark release, Dig out your soul. 

From day one, there was friction between the brothers and after their 2008 hit, there was hectic speculation that Noel would go solo. The breaking point came in Paris, where the brothers had a nasty brawl that left Noel with a broken guitar. A few hours later, Noel wrote that he had quit Oasis, the band for which he had written iconic songs like Stop crying your heart out, Live forever, Don't look back in anger, Wonderwall, Cigarettes and alcohol and Slide away.

This article was published in The Times of India's Crest edition dated November 27, 2010.

Moshers unite

Put those metal detectors away. The metalheads are descending upon Panjim tonight

Nigel Britto

Goa’s small but dedicated metal community has a rare cause for celebration. An all-star line-up is expected to take the capital city by storm this weekend. Most of India’s best metal acts, as well as popular bands from Europe and America, will set temperatures soaring and necks breaking as they hit the stage at Gymkhana grounds for a potent dose of pure, unadulterated mayhem.

Headlined by American prog-metal pioneers Cynic, the show will also feature Cyanide Serenity, Hacride, Leaves’ Eyes, as well as desi metal legends like Demonic Resurrection, Infernal Wrath and thrash-metal pioneers Kryptos, widely considered India’s best metal band. ‘It’s the first time we’re playing in Goa and hope metalheads come out, chill and enjoy themselves’, Ryan ‘Maiden’ Colaco, the band’s drummer, told TOI.

Metal is not a genre associated with Goa, with most fans inclined towards electronic dance music, but Demonic Resurrection vocalist Sahil Makhija sounds optimist about the ‘engineering crowd’, which makes up the bulk of the audience and practically the entire moshpit during every metal concert in Goa.

A scarce commodity in Goa, the state has churned out precious few metal bands, as opposed to the numerous DJ and ‘wedding bands’, which are more commercially viable. The spinal cords of Goa’s metal movement are the annual rock fests of colleges led by BITS-Pilani’s ‘Waves’ and GEC’s legendary ‘Happenings’, which have in the past featured some of the times’ leading metal bands. Thus, it is no surprise that the weekend’s concerts are set to widen Goan audience participation in the conference, which has been lacking so far. Many Goan metal fans, such as Kadesh D’Souza of Embers of a Perfect World, see the concerts as a ‘golden oppurtunity’, but in the same breath grumbled that no Goan band is on stage.

The weekend’s gigs are concluding part of the Indian Music Conference, which commenced on Wednesday and features over 200 artistes from all over the world. The event is conceptualized by a Delhi-based company to bring unheard and distinct genres together on a common stage. Also, the event gives upcoming musicians the opportunity to perform and interact with more established names in the industry. Refreshingly, though Bollywood is part of the event, it’s not the main focus, which goes to independent artistes and bands.

‘We just can’t avoid Bollywood’ says singer Shibani Kashyap, who describes herself as ‘independent’ and not Bollywood. She lamented the fact that non-film music in India doesn’t get sufficient recognition, a fact agreed to by Italian-Canadian crossover singer Natalie Di Luccio. “It’s great to bring independent music to the big stage’, she told TOI after performing her wildly-popular, accented rendition of ‘Tu jaane Na’ in Arpora. Wednesday’s inaugural concert included TAAQ, Bandish, Mrigya and the wildly popular Parikrama, the kings of Indian rock who have spent over two decades resisting attempts to get them to go commercial.

The IMC, apart from completely breaking down barriers between musicians and fans (off-stage, wide-eyed young fans could meet their favorite musicians), also provides a good networking oppurtunity for people associated with the industry. “Bands that are successful today are the ones who know to market themselves in today’s climate”, said US-based producer Ashish Manchanda during the inaugural session at Arpora on Thursday. The event is likely to be an annual event in Goa like IFFI, with the main problem of the organizers being how to choose among the plethora of artistes that want to play on the IMC stage.

This article was first published in The Times of India's Goa edition on November 19, 2010.

Londonstani and Harlem

Shobana Jeyasingh, 53, is one of England's most sought-after dance choreographers, and the company she leads has redefined dance in Britain.

Nigel Britto

It's a homecoming of sorts. It was over two decades ago that a wide-eyed Chennai-born girl left for London. She got a degree in Renaissance studies from the University of Surrey, but it is her mastery of Bharatanatyam rather than Botticelli that has made her famous.

Today, Shobana Jeyasingh, 53, is one of England's most sought-after dance choreographers, and the company she leads has redefined dance in Britain. This week, Jeyasingh will add India to the list of countries (US and most of Europe) she has already wowed. Her compelling choreography and the technical brilliance and dazzling diversity of her eight dancers will be on display in Mumbai and Bangalore.

Jeyasingh has chosen her pioneering works Faultline and Bruised Blood for her India round. Faultline is based on Gautam Malkani's book Londonstani where the characters are disaffected, violence-prone Asian youth. "It is a response to the unease that I felt in Britain after the 2005 London tube bombings when it was difficult to be young, Asian and male, " Jeyasingh says. It features the Indiaborn British soprano Patricia Rozario singing live. If this combination of art styles is unique, the second, Bruised Blood gets quirkier, as do the contemporary costumes her dancers don. It's about the Harlem riots of the 60s and will feature world champion finalist beatboxer Roxorloops performing live.

"I have long been an admirer of Patricia's voice. In Faultline I was looking to create a tension between the historical and the contemporary, " says Jeyasingh, who was awarded the MBE in 1995 for her services to dance. The dancers in her multinational troupe - they come from Spain, Vietnam, Italy and Finland - are drawn on the basis of their own ethnic dance languages, giving the troupe a stylistic depth that few others have.

The underlying theme in all Jeyasingh's productions is social integration. Although she has lived in Britain for almost 30 years now, India pops up like running stitch in her work. "However, " she says, "art also connects just by being itself, despite geographical and cultural differences. If I didn't believe that I would not have gone to study Shakespeare in Britain as an Indian nor would I see so many pizza restaurants in India. "

Soprano Rozario, an OBE who is India's most famous western classical export after conductor Zubin Mehta, first met Jeyasingh eight years ago in London. "I was impressed with the fact that she integrated elements of Indian dance into her contemporary dance creations, as well as commissioned contemporary composers to write the music for her dances and has live musicians performing it, " Rozario said on the phone from the UK. Jeyasingh attributes this to her heritage. "I guess my history of migration, the deep influence of Indian dance on my kinesthetic literacy and the dynamics of a city like London where we are based, all add to it. "

In 22 years of dancing, Jeyasingh has learned a thing or two about the industry. She's positive about the fact that audiences have matured. "I think there's more of an audience which is willing to be stimulated and questioned by the new rather than be reassured by the things they recognise, " she says. However, she recognises the problems of a choreographer-led troupe at face value. "It is still difficult to start and maintain a dance company. However, I think it is easier now to gain credibility for the contemporary in dance. "

She also feels market dynamics play an important role in the evolution of dance. "You can't ignore its ubiquity, " she says. "But it's an artiste's choice, where they place themselves in relationship to it. It also depends on where the financial patronage of the artist comes from. In Britain, there has been a tradition of state funding for the arts since the last century. However, this is set to change and the market will play a much more dominant role than it has done now. " In order to help young dancers understand the nuances of the industry, she will also be holding workshops and talks in Delhi (November 10) and Mumbai (November 15).

Finally, with such variety at her disposal, how does she piece a work together? A choreographer, she replies, is like a poet or writer but one who has to make up her own language to write the story or poem. "The dancers supply the words and the sounds. Their different backgrounds mean they supply a variety of words. It is then the task of the choreographer to make a coherent language out of these diverse sounds and write the story. " Thus, in the final work, the elements may hardly be recognisable, but they will all have contributed to the story. "All the dancers work together like colours in a painting. They are mixed, blended, layered, painted over, etc, so that finally the viewer sees the picture and not the individual brush strokes. "

This article was first published in The Times of India's Crest edition on November 6, 2010.