Advaita To Celebrate With An All-Star Gig

The Delhi band that was formed in 2004 to bring in their eighth birthday with collaborations and some unreleased material

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This is shaping up to be a rockumentary-worthy show. When we called in to check, Advaita guitarist Abhishek Mathur was getting ready to rehearse with a bunch of musicians for an upcoming concert on Sunday that will feature some of the country’s best-known musicians including Parikrama’s Sonam Sherpa and Subir Malik, Them Clones’ Surojit and Prithwish Dev and Da Saz’s [we wish this band gigged a lot more] Suchet Malhotra.  

One of the most interesting tracks on the set list is “Just Enough” that featured on the Soundpad compilation that was produced by veteran UK producer John Leckie and released in 2009. For the birthday gig, Advaita have roped in cellist Tapan Malik, classical guitarist Benjamin Theophilus, Nikhil Mawkin and Prithwish Dev of Them Clones for a “stripped down version of Just Enough.”

Says Mathur, “The idea behind the show is to present Advaita songs in a new light by inviting musicians from the Delhi music scene who we admire and who we hang out with to play and sing our songs in their own way.” The set list also includes tracks such as “Suspended” off their debut Grounded In Space with Sherpa on guitar and Malik on bass and “Gates of Dawn” featuring Ashaar Farooqi on vocals and Malhotra on percussion. Says Mathur of their concert hit, “Gates of Dawn,” “This [version] is going to be tripped out with extended jam sections and lots of electronica thrown in.”

The gig will also be a reunion of sorts bringing together former Advaita band members including guitarist Aditya Balani and bassist Arpan Guhathakurta onto the stage again for the unreleased, yet popular track “Light.” Both Surojit and Prithwish will join in on “Light.”

Tracks from their new album The Silent Sea will also be tweaked for collaborations. Watch out for “Words” with Mrigya’s Sharat Chandra Srivastava on violin. Says Mathur, “This is a fantastic way to celebrate eight years of being together and presenting our songs in a new way to our fans in Delhi who come for almost all our shows.” Fans would happily agree.

Advaita Live Celebrating Eight Years Together will be held on September 23rd at India Habitat Center Amphitheater at 6.30 pm. Free Entry

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