With each passing year, the Bacardi NH7 Weekender seems to grow in stature and magnitude. They’re constantly adding to the festival experience – through international bands, celebrated Indian artists (like AR Rahman this time), new cities, extra days, new frills, new drinks, installations, flea markets, the works – and this year is no different.
Two editions of the festival have already taken place (Kolkata and Shillong), and next up is New Delhi (Nov 28-29), after which the festival travels to Pune and Bangalore. We take a look at some of the interesting international acts that will be performing at the three remaining legs of the festival this year.
Mark Ronson
Who is Mark Ronson? He has plenty of pedigree, sure, but the fundamental answer to this is: Mark Ronson is the guy who wrote that one annoyingly catchy song everyone knows (you know, the one which features Bruno Mars) – Uptown Funk.
Beyond that, Ronson is a versatile musician and a frequent collaborator with artists across genres; he’s a songwriter, instrumentalist, singer, DJ, and a producer with a decent list of credits to his name – including albums by Adele, Paul McCartney, and Amy Winehouse. And even if the music doesn’t quite do it for everyone, his brand value alone – Ronson is a legitimate pop music hotshot – should ensure a full house at his shows here.
Mogwai
Even though all music is supposed to be weather-neutral, the hazy, wandering kind of tension to Mogwai’s music makes it unnervingly perfect for the stiff Delhi winter. The Scottish instrumental band, nominally categorised as “post-rock”, take their bow on Indian soil at the Delhi edition of the Weekender, before heading over to Pune and Bangalore.
They recently completed 20 years (releasing a three-CD compilation titled Central Belters) – following which their longtime guitarist John Cummings left the band. In a plot twist befitting David Lynch, they now bring their intense, atmospheric guitar-and-keys driven sound to… Dwarka.
Bereft of 2,000 BPM space grooves or fancy vocal flourishes, it should be interesting to see whether they can hold the attention of an Indian crowd tanked up on rum. (We’re sure they will.)
Flying Lotus
Flying Lotus practically oozes coolness. He’s been associated with Warp Records for starters – which acts as a universal stamp of approval in the weird, experimental electronica space. Then, he has a diverse range of music celebrity A-lister fans (including Radiohead). Also? The experimental rapper/producer/DJ has, over the past few years, become a critical darling and a crossover success.
So if there’s one artist coming to India this year that you want to pretend to be a devoted fan of (and claim to have liked before ‘it was cool’), it’s Flying Lotus. In fact, now would be a good time to brush up on his history. (Just to get you started, we’ll tell you that his real name is Steven Ellison and his ‘in the know’ fans refer to him simply as FlyLo!)
SBTRKT
SBTRKT, pronounced ‘Subtract’ (in case you, like us, weren’t clever enough to figure that out), is a British electro-pop collaborative project led by Aaron Jerome.
Jerome wears masks during concerts to push forth the idea of anonymity around the music – and the live sets are usually a mix of electronic and acoustic instruments. For the gigs in India though, it’s going to be a DJ-only set – and with SBTRKT’s sound falling in that smooth, easygoing, post-dubstep tempo accentuated by melodic departures, it should be perfect for that hipster, fish-out-of-water, dancing while pretending to be oblivious routine you see at music festivals these days.
Rodrigo y Gabriela
This Mexican acoustic guitar-playing duo (Rodrigo and Gabriela) has a lovely instrumental piece called Hanuman, which should be enough of a reason to watch them live.
They’re incredibly gifted instrumentalists, both of them, drawing from flamenco and rock to create a mutation of Latin, guitar-driven music that one would conventionally expect to be far more laid-back and suave. Instead, what you get is a frantic gush of energy in their sound – propelled through a rhythmic, percussive guitar playing style – that adds a very fascinating restless quality.
It should be quite a sight live.
(Akhil Sood is a New Delhi-based freelance music and culture writer with an undiagnosed fear of tomato sauce.)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)