Acoustic Only

At a time when musicians everywhere are beginning to incorporate bits of electronic music into their sound,these three Kolkata boys have chosen to take a different path. Joel Prabal,Dinesh Gopalan and Asit Deva came together in January this year to form an all-acoustic band and called themselves Oh Ma Go (or OMG for short). Now,within months of their first gig in Kolkata,they are in Mumbai — on a tour that began with a packed show at Soul Fry Casa,Fort. The second gig of the tour is on March 20 at Blue Frog,Lower Parel,where they will play the early set and the last at Worli’s Cool Chef Cafe.

Although relatively new,of course,Oh Ma Go is most certainly a band with promise. Of the three,Prabal and Gopalan are singer/songwriters who also play guitar,while Deva is a percussionist. Prabal also plays the violin,an instrument they occasionally incorporate into their music. That they are a solely acoustic band in this sudden wave of electronically-enhanced music works in their favour. “We have a lot of fun with the acoustics,” says Prabal,adding,“For instance,even when we’re doing a cover of a pop song like one of Michael Jackson’s,we put our own spin on it.” They do play a great deal of original music,too — which varies from pop to blues to jazz and everything in between — and it is for this that they’re worth checking out.