Remo rocks, sufi soothes, ghazals delight

It was not just another night, not just another concert. It was a journey to places only music can take you. Soulful sufi, feisty fusion pop and great ghazals had the audience enthralled at Mood I's Open Air Theatre on December 21.

Sufi artists Murtaza Khan and Kader Mustafa Khan kicked off the night, performing some of their popular songs such as Piya Haji Ali and Noor ala noor from the film Meenaxi: A Tale Of Three Cities. The climax was the evergreen hit, Damadam mast kalandar.

The warmed-up audience really got into the groove once the talented Remo Fernandes and the Microwave Poppadums turned on the power. Their first song was Keep on moving, and it set feet tapping, bodies moving and hands waving. By the time the band finished Maria pita che and a version of the Beatle track Come together, the crowd was going wild.

Remo played some of his biggest hits like Pyar tho hona hi tha and Hamma hamma to deafening cheers.

The singer dedicated his track, O meri Munni, to all the munnis in IIT and then paid 'tribute to the Indian woman' with Oh Indian lady, you've come a long way baby.

Remo played his guitar behind his back, a la Jimi Hendrix, transported the audience to the mountains with his melodious flute playing and danced among the crowd while singing the Goan song Mayayayaya.

Even those in the VIP section could not help getting into the groove.

The crowd just would not let Remo go, and the result was an on-the-spot composition of the Mood Indigo song!

The show ended with Remo's guitar pyrotechnics and thank yous to everybody -- the audience, the organisers, the light and sound men, his amazing band.

After a half-an-hour breather to recover from Remo's magic, it was time to enjoy the ghazals by Roopkumar and Sonali Rathod. The duo spun a melodious web with hits like Yaara sili sili and Aakhon ki masti. There was even a sort of jugalbandi with the crowd, the tabla and the clapping audience.

Every ghazal was greeted with loud applause as the audience lapped up every nuance of the tabla and the intricacies of voice modulation. The concert ended at 2 am.