Coke’s All Right

It has six lakh Facebook fans,over two million hits on YouTube and 10 million mobile downloads. Yet,musician Leslie Lewis always finds himself defending MTV Coke Studio India,of which he is the creative and music director. Even as skeptics tear apart the music property,comparing it disparagingly with its Pakistan counterpart,Lewis finds himself confronted by critics who ask,“Where’s the fizz?” On a visit to Chandigarh for a performance at Tao,Sector 26,as part of the Coke Studio Minicerts,Lewis is in no mood to take criticism silently.

“The criticism comes from just a section of population,that too the internet-surfing one. Across country,Coke Studio India has been a hit and it’s because we have managed to deliver a whole new sound and voices across spectrum,” says Lewis,defending the experiment as a clutter-breaking sound,one that frees music from what’s being produced by Bollywood and reality shows.

As he points to the record breaking sales of the Coke Studio album,he is joined by Coke Studio singers Papon,Sanjeev T,Harshdeep Kaur and Mathangi. “Minicerts are mini concerts in cities across India and we plan to venture into major concert space too,” says Lewis.

The minicert saw eastern folk pieces by Papon,soulful sufi from Harshdeep Kaur,electrical twang by Sanjeev T and powerful vocals from Mathangi. Various genres of folk and classical were churned out like Tere Naam,Khilte Hain and Yaar Basainda culminating with a group performance on Tum Jo Mil Gaye Ho.