Familiar tunes from the Prabhudeva-starrer Kadhalan wafted in the air — ‘Kadhalikum Pennin Kaigal...’ — but this time, the song followed a different soundscape altogether. Gowtham Bharadwaj of Staccato dabbled between the original and the redefined version replete with Carnatic interludes as the ensemble aided the process. The latter seemed to have the audience in a grip, as the band continued their performance with AR Rahman classics from the 1990s — an impressive opening at that.
Though the unexpected bouts of rain had the group move inside and play for an audience packed like sardines at Ibis OMR’s lobby, the energy was still infectious. As the vocalist inched towards the chorus, a bunch of phones went up in coordination — as it turned out, this classic chorus was very Instagrammable. Chennai-based band Staccato performed as part of Ibis Hotel’s Ibis Music, a collaboration with Sony Music that identifies local and upcoming talent in the music industry, providing them with a platform to perform. The nine-year-old band, comprising Gowtham Bharadwaj, Niranjana Ramanan, RH Vikram, Shallu Varun, Abhinandan, Bala, Sandip Ramanan, Manoj Kumar and Saurabh Joshi, is known for their rejigs of established tracks, interpretations of old classical ones and trending film songs, apart from their original compositions.
Staccato’s line-up at this event featured an interesting mix of popular music, classics and even contemporary versions of Thyagaraja kritis; the songs also shuttled between languages such as Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, catering to guests from across the country. Needless to say, it was interesting to see the boisterous crowd fall silent, in rapt attention, when renditions of songs by MSV and Ilaiyaraaja sprung up. ‘Sippi Irukkudhu’ from Varumayin Niram Sivappu and ‘Panivizhum Malarvanam’ from Ninaivellam Nithya were crowd favourites, while more recent popular tracks like ‘Maruvaarthai Paesathe’ from Enai Noki Paayum Thota had the younger crowd grooving.