High on music and mixology

a Raintree Media Event & PR Initiative

Bangalore’s latest happening lounge Madira opened with a resounding crescendo as the brand new band KARMA6 made its debut to rave reviews on June 30, 2007.

Music and mixology sure does make a heady combination, going by the high praise lavished by Bangalore’s glitterati after the powerhouse performance.

Mentored by star music composer Sandeep Chowta, Karma6 is an assembly of Bangalore’s finest musical talents. Chowta endured a 5-hour-long wait inside the plane on the tarmac of Mumbai airport to reach Bangalore just in time to introduce his band, which has Alwyn Fernandes and Tony Das on guitars, K.N. Prakash on bass, Tillu on the drums, Karan Joseph on keyboards and vocalist Mark Lazaro.

Chowta, who now heads Columbia India, said he returned to Bangalore to put together a band of international calibre because of the talent that abounds in his home town. “I just had to scratch the surface to find these guys. It isn’t hard to spot world class talent in Bangalore; it’s everywhere you look,” he said. He certainly seems to have picked the best that Bangalore has to offer, if Karma6’s performance at the launch was anything to go by.

Even as the rain swirled outside, Karma6’s high energy performance had the packed audience foot-tapping and soon breaking out into exuberant dance to classic covers. From Queen’s ‘Too much love will kill you’ and Van Halen’s ‘Jump’ to John Mayer’s ‘Belief’ and Steely Dan’s ‘Bodhisattva’, Karma6 delighted the audience, which insisted on several encores.

The band couldn’t have picked a better venue for its debut. The guests at the event, which was organised by Raintree Media, included fashion guru Prasad Bidapa, Sandeep and Tanya Khosla, designers Manoviraj Khosla, Raj Shroff, Neetu Gupta and Paresh Lamba, Harish Bijoor, Raghava and Nethra, and a slew of top models and music lovers from across the spectrum of media, entertainment and the corporate sector.

Madira pioneers the concept of mixology in India, where the emphasis is on personalised attention. Says V. Sridhar, M.D. of Rendezvous Restaurants, “We have eight bartenders stationed across Madira’s three levels, mixing drinks according to what the customer likes. At Madira, the bartender comes to you, not the other way around. We’re looking at developing a relationship with customers, so that the next time they come in, we’ll have their favourite drink waiting for them.”