skip to main |
skip to sidebar
This WAS a BIG day for us....there were lots of things yet to do. We had to meet the Indian Ocean band members, talk to them about how we could arrange our stage plan so that their setup wouldn't be disturbed much...we had to talk to Biju, the guy handling the sound system about our instruments, cables, monitors, etc. Things got a little delayed in the beginning...had me worried quite a bit...but going by how friendly, down-to-earth and adaptive the Indian Ocean guys were (Aseem, Sushmit, Rahul and Amit) - things worked out pretty well. We would have liked some more time for our sound check though...but am grateful for whatever few minutes we got! (The Indian Ocean guys sound-checked first and actually apologized for taking time for setup....that was real sweet considering it was THEIR show!!!) The show was scheduled to start at 5.30pm...it started at 6pm...our lead guitarist Pavel entered from the rear of the auditorium playing a solo piece walking his way to the stage....Mudi and I followed after a while....and once all 6 of us were on stage we started with Tumhari Yaadein...my friends tell me i looked nervous in the beginning...which i WAS...i need to work on getting into the moment when needed! Mudi was his usual cheerful excited self...and that sure helped!
We kept going from song to song...and we kept getting a good response from the crowd! By our second number "jab se dekha use" i started feeling comfortable and got into the groove myself...Each one of us seemed to be in their elements....Looking back, feels like the whole segment was more like 5 minutes instead of the actual 25 that we spent on that stage...it got over so fast! Going by the applause and response we got, seemed like we'd surely done a good job, if not great... Indian Ocean came up later and rocked the audience. This was their second concert I attended in the last 4 months, and they sound so damn good in their live concerts...just like they sound in their recordings! of course, with a lot more energy and enthusiasm and fascinating trickery! We later got a chance to interact even more with the band, and it was very pleasing to see them encourage MASUM, especially for the fact that we do our own compositions. This show has indeed inspired us to keep going stronger and to never give up. We're aware of our shortcomings, but at the same time, we're a young band with lots more to learn and experience. And knowing each one of us - all will surely work towards the goal. I'm so glad and thankful to be part of this band of young enthusiastic and talented musicians! Thanks yo'all ! Next up on our agenda is to take a smallish break from shows and record a couple of our songs to put up on local radio stations and on our website (masumtheband.net) And yes...I've been waiting to get to the end to mention the most important part. We're so happy and fortunate to have so many friends and family to support us and our music. To see some of them fly in or drive down from different parts of the US (as far as NJ, VA and FL) for us, was just too heart-warming to say the least! Thanks ALL :) Also, thanks to Vye and the entire IMACS team for their trust and support....to Biju for great work on the sound...to our friends who help us with our website and other ideas (Rajat, Priyavadan, Anu, etc.)....to Moni for selflessly coming for our looong practice sessions whenever she could to help us out with stuff...and everyone else who've been a part of this beginning of ours! (If I've missed someone on my or the band's behalf, please remember it's not deliberate :)
PS: This picture is © Amin Gilani. I'll be posting other pictures/links soon
After more than a month of some tiring practice sessions, organizer talks, decision-making, et al, the day that MASUM would open for the Indian Ocean concert at UT-Arlington finally arrived.
There's just so much to write about this I thought I'd break it into two blogs - the Countdown and the Finale.
Cut to around mid-July'06: I meet Vye, a very dynamic and hard-working guy that I came in contact with while we used to perform in UTA till last year. He tells me he wants to arrange an Indian Ocean (www.indianoceanmusic.com) concert in UTA on August 27th, while they'll be on their US tour. We discuss a few things related to this and then he randomly asks me if we'd want to open for the show. I think for almost exactly 7 seconds and go "Sure...why not??".
Within the next 2-3 days, I make a few calls to the rest of our band members to confirm their availability. I call Mudi (who unfortunately for us, works in Virginia and not in Dallas) and ask him to book flight tickets to Dallas for the show. (Someone who's reading this and is looking for a smart, dynamic IT Business Analyst in Dallas, please get in touch with him :)
At this point, we have Pavel (lead guitars), Kalyan (keyboards), Sanjeev (drums), Mudi (vocals) and me (vocals, rhythm guitars). Three important issues ahead of us: We need a bass guitarist, we need a drum kit to practice with and a room to practice till the D-day.
Fortunately for us, as we kept going ahead with our practice sessions...everything interestingly seemed to fall in place. We kept asking around for a drum kit....a few friends tried real hard but things didn't work....till i casually mentioned this to a good friend Anisha, and she goes "of course, we have my brother's drum kit that's unused cos he's off in California...take it!"....and that was it...such a big relief for us. (thanks anisha!)
Getting venues for practice looked like a big issue to start with...well, till Vye and others from the organizing team helped immensely and booked a room in the University for all days till the show.
The biggest issue still was the bass guitarist. The toughest part here was to convince someone to play with us for free as we weren't gonna get paid for this show, and were doing it just for the exposure. Hard to believe, but this bit got finalized only days before the show when Shane agreed to play with us (thanks a ton shane and andrea...and to the "Janmashtami" celebrations organized by the Agarwal's where we actually met up for the first time to sing and to talk about this!). At that point,going only by what people said about Shane's talent, it wasn't surprising that he picked up the songs in only two sessions before the actual show!
So anyways, we decided on doing 4 songs in all...one popular number by Strings called "Ye Hai meri kahani" from the movie Zinda...and 3 of our original compositions, "Tumhari Yaadein", "Suraj Naya" (both performed earlier, liked by many) and a new one called "Jab Se Dekha Use", which now happens to be one of our favourites! can't wait to get a demo recorded...
We kept practising...kept practising...along with our busy schedules at work, etc. till the final weekend. Mudi came down, we practised some more....more sleepless nights, over-stressed vocal chords, lots of gargling, cups of turmeric powder-with-milk (a.k.a Haldi doodh).....till the D-day made its entry...
