The Family Cheese...On the move

The Family Cheese!? What to think of a name like that for a music band. The mention in  the excellent music guide provided by Music Matters described them as a "Blues/Funk/Jazz/Jam/Carnatic Power trio from India".

Being relatively familiar with the first 3 music styles, it was the Carnatic Power that drew extra attention. In addition, practically having at least one big toe in the country and a soft spot for Chennai, where the band was “born”, we could not be totally without bias.

So on our first night on Music Matters, after attending some truly entertaining sets of performance by e.g. Kytami, we headed off to China One for The Family Cheese, not knowing what to expect. It proved to be not little.

The three-man band

Apurv Isaac Guitar

Homi Rustumji (6 string) Bass

Yohan Marshall (Drums)

Put up a performance that left us a bit stunned, I must say. Concrete solid guitar solos  by both Homi as well as Apurv

and rebar hard drum solos with that Carnatic touch from Yohan, gave us a picture of the high rising future of Mumbai.

At times and mainly when playing their own compositions, the band sounded clearly inspired by some of Pink Floyd's early work like Saucer Full of Secrets. Nostalgia at its best for me, I had to admit.

 This first inspiring set helped us determine our agenda for the other evenings at Music Matters…More other bands and there were plenty, but also more Family Cheese.

 

So next day, in between real cool stuff from Art of Fresh and Jeremy Neal we also visited the Fern and Kiwi, the new location of the cheese for that night. We were not disappointed, next to the fact that the music was equally good, yet different tracks, the crowd had also increased. I managed to perch myself in front of the pillar that is otherwise  so awkwardly obstructing the view to the stage and took more shots of this crazy fun band, that manages to put up a mad show!

 

It seemed the word was out that The Family Cheese was good entertainment. We also wanted to be part of more of it, so for our last night of fun, it was off to the Crazy Elephant. The Elephant turned out to be packed with a crowd eager to participate in the fun.

 Some often being responsible for wild entertainment themselves!

Riding on a, so much missed, hair rising high of increasing popularity

 the band of three made the full house beg for more and although the tight but fair Music Matters organization could not allow for that, a jam later in the evening made more than up for it.

 

I believe these guys are an act to watch, and I would not be surprised if someone big in the music scene had an eye on them already!!

Kyoko: A surprise encounter

On the last day of Music Matters we made our pick of most favorite band. The Family Cheese a band of three based in Mumbai India, even after two filling sets left us hungry for more.

But since cheese makes for a good desert we first headed off to Robertson Quay for dinner at  Brussels Sprouts, one of our old time favorites and the place to go to for mussels and beer. Seated next to Shabestan a restaurant serving Persian cuisine and entertainment, I suddenly spotted a familiar face.

We lost Kyoko out of sight for a while. In fact, from post of face book, I thought she had left for Japan. So we were both happy to see that Kyoko was still in town and that she still does her skillful belly dancing shows, now every Saturday at  Shabestan, that obviously attracts quite a bit of attention from guests as well as passers by.

An audience is essential for venues and performers alike to survive and dancing matters like music matters!

blitzandsquash: A reunion bash

Meeting Yohei Kanda and his wife last week reminded me of a set of photos that were still sitting on my hard drive and that are interesting to share. Maybe it is also a good moment, because, as I heard through the grapevine, SingJazz Club is soft opening on Thursday after Sultan Jazz closed its doors a few weeks ago, at the same location.

Why does it make this a good moment to release these shots of a fun bunch of Japanese musicians forming the Blitz and Squash Brass Band from Osaka, Japan? In my eyes a lot of these shots show why live music cannot be ignored. Most of the times it is as exciting to see with your own eyes, how a great bunch of people, doing what they love to do, without any pomp or fanfare, can entertain an audience thoroughly. 

Bringing a fun band and an appreciating audience together on their conditions, appears to be a tough thing to do though. Of course the two crucial elements are a band and audience, but more than all, you need a venue where these two crucial elements can come together and feel equally at ease and at home. For the audience that often times means no more than a space with seating and beverage services. For a band this means the space, not only the physical space and how it delivers the sound but also the space to feel the audience and respond to that.

Several re-openings and management hand-overs of Sultan have shown that doing everything right for everyone, including yourself, is extremely challenging. I am keeping my fingers crossed for the next release. For whatever I have read of the premise on which they decided to reopen with SingJazz I think it is promising.

Now who is Yohei Kanda? This is Yohei Kanda

And this is his wife Eriko Murakami

The couple moved to Singapore a few years back for work. I assume they had to leave Blitz and Squash behind when brought them over just for an evening full of fun and brass. 

Fun and brass only got more when the horn section of our own Fungkimunkees complemented the troop. 

It led to solo combats that almost tore the roof off the venue, and I don’t know what would have remained of that chandelier, if that would have happened.