The advent of Indian prog- Clinton Cerejo's 'Baina'

Few composers in the Indian music scene have experimented with odd time signatures although Indian classical music has thrived on 7x4 & 5x4 time signatures. Well it is only appropriate that Coke Studio introduced progressive stuff this year with its season 3 and how!

Coke Studio has become a platform for composers to bring out music which is completely different from the mainstream Bollywood stuff and Season 3 has lived upto the expectations. Such avenues have enabled musicians to express themselves rather than help expressing a director’s storyline.

After his mind-blowing compositions such as Madari and Saathi Salaam in season 2, Clinton Cerejo is back with a bang. This composition Baina is different yet equally enthralling. As I post this, the video has just about 40k views while according to me it deserves many more. The track might not be progressive music in its purest sense but the change to a 7x4 time signature for the chorus is just remarkably done. The amalgamation of Veena and Guitar, of Qawwals and untrained vocals, of the Manjiras and the drums is very well arranged. The attention paid to the minutest details such as the guitar feedback note played at 2:40 which then fuses into a Cello is noteworthy.

Watch out for the bass guitar at 2:35, the Veena coming in with the synth playing deep notes at 4:13, Vijay’s Prakash’s vocals and the super guitar tones. Clinton Cerejo’s harmonizing vocals with the chorus totally stand out in your left earphone/speaker.

‘Baina’ has come so close to becoming my favorite track this season. Wish the end were cut a bit short and the drums had more punch to it. Wonder how awesome it would have been to listen to some triplets and quads among the fills especially during the chorus!

It would be completely unfair to not acknowledge Rahman’s mesmerizing compositions. And yet, the most anticipated episode by Amit Trivedi is due this week! If Baina has got you interested, do make sure to check out Marghat from the same episode and Aigiri Nandini by Ram Sampath which also boasts of a little prog inspiration by itself. \m/

Song of the week #10- Anesthetize by Porcupine Tree

There is a reason why the Progressive genre has a small albeit loyal fan-base. And that reason is the music composed by bands like Opeth, Dream Theater, Porcupine Tree to name a few. I was introduced to the name Porcupine Tree as a band which came to India to perform live at the Mood-Indigo (undoubtedly India’s most extravagant cultural festival at IIT-B). Little did I know that I would become such a huge fan of PT and would regret missing their live show.

According to me, Anesthestize is one of the best songs that PT has ever composed. It has that true progressive flavour to it with the song catching up different moods in phases. The initial drumming structure has Gavin Harrison’s signature all over it with a simple 4x4 beat built into a beautiful sequence of beats over the toms. This track stands as an epitome of his drumming prowess. Kicking those triplets & quads throughout the song make it sync perfectly with the superb bass playing. The tempo starts building up at 7:47 and my favourite part is the riff at 9:17 and again at 11:46. The track again changes gears at 12:54 in such a wonderful way.

This song, to me, is a drum anthem with all parts played with the ultimate sense and taste. People who believe Gavin Harrison to be a boring technical drummer have probably never listened to Anesthetize. It’s a pity that PT is on a break these days. Can’t wait for their next album to come out!

This live video of the song makes it even more difficult to believe that creating such music is humanly possible. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKeTD8E8Nkg

Signing off with that for now. Keep rocking! \m/