Music in the Woods

The open skies,a pristine lakeside location,twinkling stars and a bunch of musicians belting out music that moves you or makes you move to the tunes.

The open skies,a pristine lakeside location,twinkling stars and a bunch of musicians belting out music that moves you or makes you move to the tunes. Day one at the three-day Escape Festival of Arts and Music in Naukuchiatal,that began on Friday,was better than most had expected.

Of course there were glitches the bands began playing two hours late but what followed was worth the wait.

Two singer-songwriters,Akshay George and Devashi Sehgal,gave short performances of their self-composed numbers. Till then,the number of audience were few. The vibe changed when Chennai-based band,The Captains of Hook,a three-member outfit,took over. Established by former members of the popular indie band Junkyard Groove Siddharth Srinivasan,Craig Maxworth,Hudstin Fernandez the one-year-old rock band began the set with Sweet Shelter,and went on to play Fairytale,Take it Away,Preacher Man and a hilarious Malayali version of Hotel California. Interactive and energetic with envious camaraderie,The Captains of Hook found several new fans.

We assumed no band could top the energy they had built up,till the iconic Kolkata-based band Skinny Alley took to stage. Even though most of the members had greying hairlines,they were the youngest at heart. Call their music disco or rock n roll or psychedelic rock,the band had many dancing. Jayashree Singh,Amyt Datta,Gyan Singh,Jeffrey Menzes,Jivraj Singh and Monojit Datta brought out the wild side in everyone. O sweet Jesus,Ladies Night and a Skinny Alley version of Michael Jacksons Billie Jean were crowd-pullers. The band was joined by revered pianist Harmeet Manseta,who performed a mind-blowing jugalbandi with the drummer and guitarist. What is most impressive about the band is their tendency to turn a simple line into a song.

The best of the festival has been kept for the last day - on the mike will be Lou Majaw,the Bob Dylan of Shillong,Delhi-based Them Clones and The Circus,Mumbai-based metalheads Bhayanak Maut,New Zealand-based DJ Flithy Tom and Finland-based psy-trance artiste Puoskari.

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