Colonial Cousins @ JTPAC

I have been unpardonably late in coming up with this post considering the fact that I ended up taking 3 weeks to post what I thought about the Colonial Cousins' concert at JTPAC, Tripunithura.

And let me tell you in the first instance itself that for me, the concert was nothing more than average. Probably, I expected lot more from the talented duo. Probably, my expectations soared higher when I saw JTPAC jam packed for the first time. Probably, my energy levels started increasing when the otherwise emotionless crowd starting clapping, hooting and howling to the music of Colonial Cousins. And worst thing, probably (well, not really), I did not enjoy Hariharan's characteristic tampering of songs when he rendered them on stage.

I am not a great expert of any of the music forms- Carnatic, Hindustani, Ghazal, Fusion or Rock- forms that Hariharan claims to be an expert on. But I did feel that in many places while Hariharan added his own to the songs, his singing went off key and off pitch with the sangathis and the swara sthanam's moving totally out of control. The good thing was that the concert ended on a peak. Hariharan and Leslie started with their little known songs and kept the best for the last. They did a good job reproducing their best songs and the audience went home happy.

I was particularly happy with their rendition of "Krishna Nee Begana, Oho Kaizala and Something in the way you smile". Hariharan added his share of popular film songs as well- the opening lines of "Kallai Mattum" was particularly engrossing and so was the high energy "Chappa Chappa" which he chose to end the concert with. The classic "Uyirae" and the lilting "Walking in the Moonlight" did suffer partially from the Hariharan- on- stage syndrome. Leslie was comparatively better and used his guitar much more than his vocals. Stephen Devassy on his synthesizer contributed significantly to the duo and the rest of the crew were good enough.

I dont know how many of those who were present at the concert would agree when I say that the performance was at best mediocre, but I would still vote the Subramaniam's higher than the Colonial Cousins...