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I got a tune stuck in my head. Then the disc got stuck in a CD player & got lost from memory. Searched for it but could not find it & so upon getting back the ’so thought’ lost CD almost a year later, it sounded one of the best songs I have ever heard.

The incident was an over a year or two ago when I listened to the album World Grooves by Putumayo. During that time world music selection was not all that varied plus the number of nightspots who were brave enough to venture there were close to none. It was my first introduction to world music from putumayo, one that I have been able to happily indulge myself again at Putumayo music’s 15th anniversary.

I was able to sample some of the sounds from the amazing new compilation African Party. The album itself is a colorful mix of music from South Africa all the way to Ivory Coast, a blend of the old & new. I found the music so infectious that I was playing it all the time on my music machine.

Raised in multicultural India, music has been something that has had a profound significance to my life & has transcended borders & Africa is home to some of the best music in the world.

I have always believed that art needs strife & Africa has more than it’s fair share of it. So the music that comes out of the continent is soulful & original.

Even though the majority of us myself included may not be able to understand the songs, the beauty of the music is hard to escape.

Listening to the African Dance Party compilation made me look up some of the names on the internet…. Some names are not really out there yet. The names that are there amazed me with the simplicity & originality of the music & visual accompaniments.

This is definitely an album you should check out. I got mine from Borders @ Wheelock place.

I will be having an interview with one of the artists pretty soon. Watch this space.

Get the album online Amazon or the Putumayo site.

Get it in Singapore at Borders.

Recently, I went to a place that I had been meaning to go to for quite some time.
The place is called ‘Tsubaki-an’, a Japanese restaurant located just off Boat Quay (Circular Road). I have been to many Japanese restaurants, sushi bars, Japanese BBQs…. But I have never been quite so pleasantly surprised by the spirit of hospitality.

This place is run by Japanese who are from `Kyoto`, the old capital of Japan back in 7th or 8th century. So the food on the menu is Western Japanese (as in from the west of Japan) ‘Obanzai’.

I reached there at about 9pm on Saturday night, the place was quite small, fairly busy still, there were a few tables as well as a bar seats. There was another half of the place, it must have been the function room.

There was only one waitress who was juggling everything around on the floor at the time. She was a bit stressed but she cleared up the only free table & we were seated 5 minutes later. (By the way all the staff there are Japanese.) I had to wait for some time for her to come back to me after I decided the appetizer to go along with my Asahi beer. Finally she came and asked for my order and I ordered one jug of Asahi draught. After about ten minutes, she came up to me and said “This is complimentary, as we made you wait for so long and I am very sorry”. Then and she gave me an extra mug of Asahi draught!!

I was still soaking in the realization of having completed my first interview. I know not for sure this unfamiliar feeling but I relate it to what an overachieving bookworm of a teacher’s pet must feel like upon completing an Everest of ten-years ‘O’ level series in a day.

Before I could soak any more, I was summoned to chase another interview by my editor. Not one to sit back and relax (Ha! A joke!), I hunted down Singapore’s very own West Grand Boulevard for an interview and they graciously complied. With a wicked sound and attitudes to match (which I soon found out), it’s no wonder this band is synonymous with good Indie rock

Varian: Whew! Big thanks for doing the interview guys. Alright, let’s get down to brass (heh heh, bras-s) tacks.

Dharma: I play some geetar and sing backing vocals.
Jude: I play some bass and kick everyone’s ass in the band.
Syed: I play ze drums.
Erik: Guitar.
Bryan: I’m the main vocal-er and the guy who suffers serious convulsions on stage.

V: Hmm, you should see a doctor for that. So how was West Grand Boulevard formed?

Jude: Well I was in another band called Dead End and Erik, the other guitarist, formed, well yeah, West Grand with Dharma. And they kinda needed a bassist so he asked me and I joined.
Syed: I came in much later into the band.
Bryan: We’re a collaboration of many bands that started out in the humble abode of a mama shop/studio at Leng Ann’s in Commonwealth Ave. Played drums and backing vox with both Erik and Jude in our pop/punk band Dead End. Erik asked to try out for fun and it took off from there onwards.

Varian: Perfect timing eh? How would you express your brand of music definitively?

Dharma: Country ballad.
Jude: Sound of sex from dusk till dawn.
Syed: Like Thai green curry. Spicy, but sweet at the same time.
Erik: Different.
Bryan: Power-poppy-metal-indie-groove, and that’s one word.

Varian: Way groovy, man. So why is West Grand Boulevard performing for Love is Indie Air?

Erik: Great line-up.
Syed: Art and music together. What better combination is there?
Bryan: I’m with Erik and Syed on this one.

Varian: I’m siding with you guys too. Amen. What’s your cause of choice to promote during the event?

WGB: Cross-genre, cross-cultural, cross-medium love. Support creativity, passion and hard work.

Varian: Love! Just like the event (Love Is Indie Air) is named! Speaking of which, what is your biggest love?

Erik: Music….second only to love for girlfriend and family.
Jude: Friends, music, family, DOTA, DOTA, DOTA.
Dharma: Good music and great friendships.
Syed: Friends, family, music.
Bryan: Friends, family, music, cooking good food, eating good food.

Marathon runners. What stamina. What determination. What sweat. How do they do it? I ask this because at the exact (I use this term broadly of course) moment I hit “send”, yet one more interview plopped into my lap. “Get the interview”, the booming voice suddenly erupted. “Get it done and get it done NOW”, the voice commanded and the heavens rumbled. I nearly shat my pants. Lucky for me, colourful and funny frontman Rizman Putra of Tiramisu had just enough time for a quick Q & A bout. In next to no time, I saw why Tiramisu is becoming, if not already, a staple for local music lovers:

Varian: Just what exactly is a Tiramisu?
Rizman: Tiramisu is Noorazlan Misnan aka Lan Cum (bass), Keith Su aka Dr Soos (vocals, guitar), Syed Ahmad aka Bobo (drums), Athif aka Gained Tail (guitar), and Rizman Putra
aka Woom-ber-the3x (vocals).

V: This one’s a standard. How did all of you come up with the band name?
R: Most of us are half-Italians and we love the dessert so much that one of the band members got choked on the cocoa powder while eating it. Hence, the name.

V: Ah, good ol’ friends. Describe Tiramisu’s musical style.
R: We sound like a mutated animal with 2 legs, a hairy tail, a mullet, one eye and a broken banjo.

V: That sounds like something out of a Mary Shelley book. I understand that each band is voicing out a cause for the event. What cause will the group be promoting?
R: Love is real, real love, and love is in the air. All we have to do is breathe…

V: -inhales deeply- Yup, it’s unmistakable that Love Is Indie Air. Of all the gigs, which one tops the list?
R: Our London gig in 2005 because it was in London. It was a dream come true.

V: Tell me something about this “bad side of the music business” that we (everyone outside the music scene) so often hear about.
R: Organizers paying peanuts to local bands and paying triple for foreign bands.

I recently sat down with nightsound+ for a look at this band’s stuff, this is what they had to say:-

TAI: How did you come up with the name of your group Nightsound?
NEIL: Nightsound was just a catch phrase back in school that we used for a school project. Not anything meaningful, but we just needed a name. Stuck with it since?
EUGE: Sorry, no comments. I’m only the cool bass player. *smile*
K: cuz we be nocturnal creatures of the night that function dependently on post-supper coffee.
ALAN: “Daysound” just doesn’t sound right.
XR: I think it was at night.

TAI: Tell us a memory of one of your live performances that you just can’t forget.
NEIL: Performance? Arts House Playden where we were playing with all kinds of musicians like Edmund on sax, Luke on percussions, the Fritz Quartet, and guess what? Taisuke Yamamoto, all the way from the Indian Ocean island of ChaCha who did a rap for us!
EUGE: I would have to agree with Neil on this. The Arts House Playden gig rocked! With all the talented people working on this show? It would have definitely made the republic of the “red dot” proud.
K: err…read the above.
ALAN: Yep it was one hell of a show with all the participating musicians rocking just above a restaurant.
XR: All the happiness, we’ll soon forget… all the promises…that we break…it comes around in time…

TAI: If you had to force Gandhi to fight you, how would you taunt him?
NEIL: Ow… Your last sentence nearly got me lethal…
EUGE: Knuckle his head.
K: use his bald head as a mirror whilst I brush me teeth.
ALAN: Pronounce his name as “Ghand Hai”?
XR: Why would i want Gandhi to fight me??!