Soulmate from shillong is here in the city to entertain you with the blues and rock n roll...
Soulmate from shillong is here in the city to entertain you with theu00a0 blues and rock n roll...
Best known for their Blues, Blues-rock, Soul, Rock n Roll, Funk and R&B, this band from Shillong is making quite a stir on the city's music circuit. They recently launched their album Moving On and now they are all set for a live performance at bflat tonight.
The band got together in Shillong, in February 2003, playing their first concert at the Roots Festival at the Water Sports Complex in Umiam. Since then the band has performed at many concerts all over the North East as well as in different parts of India. They also performed at the International Jazzmandu Festival in Kathmandu in 2004 and 2005.
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u00a0Rudy Wallang and Tipriti 'Tips' Kharbangar from Soulmate perform at bflat tonight |
Those with a musical bent will recognise singer songwriter Rudy Wallang at a snap. He leads this tight knit musical unit. Born into music, he grew up listening to his father Toto Wallang making music and he started singing and playing the ukulele at a very tender age, eventually graduating to the guitar. Today, Rudy is one of the foremost blues guitar players in the country, having been part of the well-known blues rock acts, Great Society & Mojo.
Tipriti 'Tips' Kharbangar, who has earned a name as one of the finest female singers to have emerged out of Shillong. If there is one thing Tips is happy doing, she says, it is singing. "I started out singing gospel songs at the local church choir and am now drawn to the blues, soul and jazz and I listen to Aretha Franklin, Billy Holliday, Ella Fitzgerald, Etta James, Nina Simone and BB King, Van Morrison, Jimmy Hall and Susan Tedeschi," she adds.
Soulmate has performed over 500 concerts all over the country and abroad. When on the road, they avail of the services of session musicians like Sam Shullai, Ferdy Dkhar, Momo, Ambar Das, Shawn Nongrum, Shaun Nonghulo, Adhiraj Mustafi, Claude Abranches and Leon Wallang.
They perform regularly in different Indian cities and have also performed at the Wills Lifestyle Fashion India Week, in Delhi (2006), besides live concerts for corporate bigwigs. They were also a part of an album, contributing one song, "I See A Light", for an AIDS awareness campaign, organized and produced by the Thomson Foundation.
The band created history by being the first and only blues band ever to represent India at the 23rd International Blues Challenge organised by The Blues Foundation of America held in Memphis, Tennessee, USA in February, 2007. They were semi-finalists and performed at The Rum Boogie Cafu00e9 (Blues Club of The Year) on Beale Street alongside 150 other bands and musicians from all over the world. They were also part of the International Roots 'On The Move' Festival, 2007 where they performed concerts and workshops all over North East India.
Soulmate released an album called Shillong in 2004/05 of which a video of the song I am is presently on the VH1 channel. When often asked by people, why they chose the Blues, their answer has been "We didn't choose the Blues, the Blues chose us." Soulmate would like to use their talent not only to entertain, but also to help society in whatever way they can.
Catch the band Soulmate in action at bflat, Indiranagar, tonight 8 pm onwards.
