The Bollywood invasion continues to grow in popularity. If you fancied seeing Bollywood Nights in the West End but never got around to booking tickets, here's your chance to grab another piece of Bollywood action.
The Bollywood Brass Band specialises in playing hits from Hindi films old and new. They also throw in popular bhangra hits, Punjabi folk songs and wedding songs, and are influenced by jazz, world music and dance.
Their six-piece horn section and funky dohl drummers are accompanied by clips from Bollywood film dance sequences, projected on a screen behind them. The band's fabulous dancer Simmy Gupta also adds her cool, stylish interpretations of the film songs.
The band formed in 1992 to perform with the Shyam Brass Band from Jabalpur, India, at the International Festival of Street Music in London. The London-based musicians re-work Indian film music from the Fifties onwards.
But how, you might ask, can a band do justice to the sweeping strings and impressive vocal performances of Bollywood epics using only brass and percussion?
It's a fair task, but the band's imagination, classy arrangements and sheer energy create a sound distinctly Indian. The band use traditional instruments such as the tabla, dhol alongside Western instruments such as trombone, baritone and soprano sax.
The tracks are underpinned by the powerful dhol drum, a Punjabi drum traditionally made from a hollowed log, with a deep bass end and piercing treble.
A sousaphone provides a much deeper bass than a baritone sax, adding depth to the arrangements.
The band were the first Bollywood brass band in Europe and have picked up a lot of wedding gigs and bookings for cultural festivals such as Diwali.
Now, the band open Globalista, a season of World Music at The Komedia. They've also recently branched out into corporate workshops where the band use music and performance to help with team-building, confidence and stress reduction.
This kind of music could be pretty tough on a brass player's lips, but the pressure is taken off individual musicians who continually swap parts in their clever arrangements. The four percussionists, hidden behind the massive dhol drums, spur on the brass section.
Even so, to sustain a full set of tunes with purely instrumental arrangements is a near-Herculean feat. But the band pull it off with their cheery passion for the music, by continually changing musical styles and their clever presentation and stagecraft.
If you have the slightest interest in Bollywood or bhangra music, you'll love the Bollywood Brass Band's contemporary vision.
Starts 8.30pm, tickets cost £12.50. Call 01273 647100.
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