They had even the most conservative of rasikas head-banging to some techno beats. Quasi-rock stars in silk kurtas played brilliant guitar chords to carnatic ragas. Fusion Dreams, led by Dr Jyotsna Srikanth from London, provided the perfect finish to the Bharat Sangeet Utsav 2011. Performing at the Narada Gana Sabha, Jyotsna and her team of musicians did a splendid job of juxtaposing world music with carnatic ragas. From the time they took stage, just like their opening number Sprint, the group of experienced musicians raced through the evening, maintaining enthusiasm throughout. Their Kalyani Mix, which, like the name suggests, is adapted from the Kalyani raga, placidly sliced through the quiet in the auditorium, with serene tones. With the violin in the foreground, the drums and keys provided effective background support. The highpoint of the evening was the Irish Folk Dance, where Jyotsna almost reproduced the sounds of Irish pipes with her violin. Throughout the peppy piece, (in the Karnaranjani raga) one was reminded of a green leprechaun. The way the raga was woven in, through some very western beats, had the music lovers sit up and pay attention. Fusion Dreams could also be called the most progressive concert of the music festival, with the members on stage using Mac laptops to read the notes and an elecro-acoustic violin for company. The band also used Ableton Live, a music sequencer technology, on stage for their piece based on the Pantuvarali raga. The mridangam coerced through the frisky techno beats and remixed jathis in this piece, as well. The essence of the Sallapam raga was captured beautifully through Haunting Thoughts, which was probably the most intense number of the evening. The violin went places, with several twists and turns, taking the audience with it. With Canter, the galloping of the horse was stimulated to near perfection by Jyotsna with her dexterity on the violin, accompanied by insipid neighs and clever beatboxing from Solomon, who also shone on the keyboard. A must mention is Hip Hop, that for once during the concert, moved the focus away from the violin and on to the guitar duo and the drums. It might not have passed off for a Soulja Boy song, but could definitely have been confused with an Eminem number at a night club!
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