YHB News

Summary:

Fantastic night of great live music from a gifted composer and accomplished singers & support band 4.5/5

Review

I first came across Niraj Chag when I happened to hear Ur Jaa on BBC Asian radio and had to find out more so a quick Google and his website music player confirmed that he was far from a one-hit wonder as track after track oozed quality and dedication; sent the link to my fiancee, friends & family who were equally enthusiastic.

I knew this was clealy someone special as my musical background was unbiased being primarily non-asian, I was brought up to classic Bollywood films but teens saw me more into Rock (e.g. U2, ‘chillis,Oasis &  Brit Pop scene, Beatles etc) before moving into hard dance in the pure trance/Gatecrasher era and then onto Pendulum, rap, hiphop etc.  Getting to the point is that, included along the way, were groups like the Welsh maestro’s Hybrid with’Wider angle’ & many remixes, Pendulum’s ‘Hold Your colors’ album, MJ Cole’s  ‘ Sincere’ along with some of the best DJ’s in the world so having being spoilt with stunning production  genius my standards are high and Niraj still stood out.

So when I found out he was playing in Birmingham was more than happy to make the 4 hour round trip and ordered the tickets.  Not knowing what to expect tried to google the London LSO gig but couldn’t find any news so thought I would do a quick write up for others in the future- hence the post!

On arriving thought the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra building was a pretty normal building from the outside and entrance- was very surprised to see  few non-Asians attending as  being  Gujarati, my hindi/punjabi etc  is awful and I can’t be the only one who loved the music before reading the translations on Niraj’s site.

The Symphony Hall itself  was impressive  with very high ceilings, yet small and very intimate. The acoustics were a joy to experience and the fantastic speakers combined to ensure each individual could not help but be captivated and fully immersed with the beautiful music being played- had half-expected a tamer accoustic set but the band really fired it up and the audience loved it.  A  major negative though was the flat seating, I was in the the third row from the front and despite being relatively tall had to peer from the sides of the people in front; very frustrating to be so close and still not have a unrestricted view.

The line up, right to left, consisted of Niraj using an M-Audio digital piano (note to Niraj: a proper piano would make you look uber cool, albeit very impractical) and occasional key presses on a Macbook,  Raf White, the guitarist to his left (a Jack Black double!), Max Hallett on drums, Kumar Ragunathan, the almost as attractive as my other half Japjit Kaur and the lovely Rekha Paunrana interchanging & combining on lead vocals, Mike Flynn a superb Bass Guitarist, Nilesh Gulhane on Tabla, and the Wing-It choir led by Sally Davies.

The synchronisation when Japjit and Rekha sang together was fantastic, as  considering they have played live very few times , was amazed how together they were at all points and all the band  were clearly enjoying themselves. Kumar whether on vocals or violin  was a revelation. Niiraj was always amusing and interesting whilst introducing songs and musicians on to the stage although, due to piano not being required, at times had little to do which was strange for myself to see but he seemed content overseeing the proceedings and enjoying the music he has painstakingly crafted.

Tracklist on the night:

Having Niraj’s music in the car, have heard it pretty much daily so the time & trouble taken to re-work some of the somgs was much appreciated, only in two cases I had a clear preference for the recorded versions, It’s Life I remember had no vocals on the night which I missed (inspite of Kumar being fantastic on Violin) and the low end frequencies I’m addicited to on Redemption were not so pronounced.  I was also able to see the alternate reaction as my fiance had not heard the music as much so a lot of it was new to her and she had a huge smile on her face throughout. (Corny tale but we had a minor tiff  on the journey down and she had sat not speaking and arms  firmly folded waiting outside the hall and when seated, but a few tracks in had let it go and mellowed).

Conclusion:
He promised “a night of soaring voices, heartbreaking melodies and music you’ll fall in love with” and delivered on all counts  4.5/5

(would be 5 but still don’t understand the lyrics of Kanya – and hence the ‘rapid fire’ nature just seems weird to me!! Other audience members did seem to like it though and if you want to know more, in Niraj’s words “track about youth. Using classical Indian dance (Kathak) vocabulary – here recited by Gauri Tripathi. I had a lot of fun playing with Gaurijis vocals – things were chopped, edited and put through filters to get the intricate rhythmic (vocal) layers I wanted for this track.”)