British band Magnets to perform in the city.
Says Nic Doodson of the popular British a cappella group, The Magnets, who will perform in the city for the first time
After making a mark in the international music scene, and performing across several major international music festivals such as Edinburgh and Adelaide Fringe, The Magnets is all set to perform in India. The six-member piece a cappella group, which has done over 3,000 shows all over the world, will begin their India tour on September 9 with their first performance being in Mumbai. The concert will also feature classical-crossover singer Natalie Di Luccio, popularly known as “Bollywood Soprano” because of her unique renditions of Indian classics. One of the oldest members and the director of the band, Nic Doodson (top right), talks to HT Café about his expectations from the tour, the initial years of the band and Bollywood songs. Well, principally, we have been learning some Bollywood songs to sing with our special guest singer Natalie Di Luccio. We have been practicing our pronunciation of Indian words and music. It should be fun. And it’s not just songs; we will make sure our Indian audience has a great time too. One of our band members, Ball-Zee, who is a world champion beat boxer, will make sure everybody grooves at the show. One of the greatest privileges of our job is that we get to travel all over the world and sing. So, we hope to learn a lot about Indian music, Indian culture and Indian people. Oh, and we’re going to eat. We love Indian food, and can’t wait to try everything that’s available here. The band was formed 22 years ago when some guys met during their university years in London. They decided to sing together at a place called Covent Garden in London (UK) where you can perform on the street for money. When the guys would had earned enough money to go to the pub, and buy a few pints [of beer] they would stop singing and start drinking. Several years and many pints later, they graduated from the university and decided to try and see if they could make a living [out of] singing. And here we all are these years later. It takes a lot of practice and passion. Also, having a team of talented people, who can add different layers [to the song], is necessary. The process to make an a cappella version of a song is as follows. One of us chooses a song that we like and suggests it to the other guys. Then, we argue in the band about whether it’s going to work or not. Three or four out of the six guys will get together whilst touring and try jamming a version of the song to see if it feels right. This place could often be an airport, a hotel or a tour bus. Again, we argue whether the song is working. Then, if it is working, one of the guys will arrange the music; write out the music for everyone to learn. We learn the song individually in our own time, and then start practicing the song together. Once again, we argue about when we’re going to practice [together]. And when the song is ready, we sing it in public to see the reaction. [In the end], we argue for the last time about whether people liked it or not. We have heard some Bollywood music. We are going to sing some Bollywood hits starting with some old Hindi songs such as ‘Kaisi paheli’ (Parineeta; 2005) and ‘Dum maaro dum’ (Hare Krishna Hare Ram; 1971) at our concert. So currently, those are our favourites. We are hoping to learn more when we are there. To find out more surprises, I would request you come for our show. The Magnets Feat. Natalie Di Luccio concert Tata Theatre, NCPA, Nariman Point September 9 Timing: 7pm