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.
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.
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