Gig Review: Agam at Bak Bak Bar, B'lore

Today, Agam played at the Bak Bak Bar in Bengaluru (The erstwhile Manchester United bar, for those who were wondering where this place was). For the uninitiated, Agam are classified as a ‘Carnatic Rock’ band. Yes, you read that right…. “Carnatic Rock” band (double quotes for effect). The band gets full marks for being able to do a splendid job of merging two diverse musical disciplines… or more like Carnatic music’s discipline with Rock’s so-called-indiscipline.

Agam playing 'Brahma's Dance'

The band kicked off the show with ‘Brahma’s Dance’ and moved on to play a whole bunch of songs from the new album. They did indulge the crowd with some splendid covers, which they skillfully modified to make it their own… the memorable covers were ‘Aaromale’ and ‘Dil Se’. Rahman overdose?!?!?! (Happy there was no ‘Jai Ho’). The crowd went crazy when the band played ‘Boat song’ and ‘Rudra’. Everyone in the house was up on their feet, clapping in perfect time and singing along with the chorus verses in almost perfect pitch. The band clearly has a wide appeal beyond the late 20-early 30’s crowd; evident from some of the maami’s (sorry my fellow Tams, I know not of a better term to use) who were clapping away to the songs. The nearly 1.5 hour set closed with their famous ‘Malhar Jam’, now made famous thanks to Coke Studio. There was a killer percussion solo towards the end of the Malhar Jam that really sealed the deal for everyone present.

Agam covering Rahman's 'Aaromale'

Overall, the show was fabulous barring the terrible lighting on stage. Agam sounded exactly like they do on their new album. The band came on stage, stood rooted to their respective positions and without any theatrics, managed to keep a crowd of 100+ grooving to their sound. Agam are a fine example of how one can blend Indian music with western influences and not sound like the McLaughlin/Zakir Hussian super group “Shakti”.  There were some glimpses of this fusion with ‘Motherjane’ who've failed to impress me after their ‘very different’ debut album.

The super percussion solo on 'Malhar Jam'

Closing remarks – a five star performance by Agam. Folks in other cities should check them out even if you are not into Rock music or Carnatic music. Many who claim to enjoy so-called ‘fusion music’ have not heard anything until they've heard Agam.