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Leap of faith

Updated on: 26 May,2013 12:48 AM IST  | 
Rinky Kumar |

Leap FROG to Coke Studio@MTV initiative gives Indie musicians an opportunity to perform in a multi-producer episode of the musical extravaganza

Leap of faith

Since its inception in India two years ago, Coke Studio@MTV has given music lovers an opportunity to listen to a confluence of diverse genres such as Indian classical music, Western classical, regional, folk and popular mainstream music. It also showcased a varied ensemble of artists such as Usha Uthup, Shilpa Rao, Swanand Kirkire and Papon, to name a few, who collaborated to create original music.



Under The Influence, a two-piece alternative rock band from Mumbai, features vocalist and guitarist Abhijit Lahiri and Ashutosh Thatte on the piano


This year, the musical extravaganza has come up with a Leap FROG to Coke Studio@MTV initiative, which gives indie musicians an opportunity to feature in the programme. After sending an original composition or a rendition of an original folk composition to the organisers, 24 bands have been selected, who are performing at the Blue Frog in Delhi and Mumbai till June 6 on every Thursday to battle it out for a spot on Coke Studio, Season-3.


The winners will go on to perform in a multi-producer episode of the musical extravaganza. Explaining how the initiative was conceptualised, Wasim Basir, director, integrated marketing communications, Coca-Cola India, says, “Coke Studio is a one-of-its-kind platform that has made an honest attempt to unite our diverse country’s myriad musical disciplines to create exceptional musical confluences.

The response to Season 2 was overwhelming and it propelled us to take the show to the new level, and open up the platform to music aspirants through Leap FROG to Coke Studio@MTV initiative. We hope to see a wide cross-section of bands from all over the country come forth.”

Aditya Swamy, executive vice president and business head, MTV India, says that the initiative is in sync with Coke Studio’s ideology to promote independent music. “While curating the show, we are always looking to present artistes that are below the collective conscience.

This platform gives us a window into the growing Indie music scene from where we have found some incredible talent in the past.” Under The Influence, a two-piece alternative rock band from Mumbai featuring vocalist and guitarist Abhijit Lahiri and Ashutosh Thatte on the piano, Sparsh, a five-piece Hindi Alternative rock band and The Family Cheese, an electronica band will perform at the Blue Frog on May 30 to win a chance to perform at Coke Studio.

Thatte, who along with Lahiri, has been performing since 2012, is excited. He says, “Under The Influence is an electronic alternative acoustic band. Abhijit and I play very westernised music. But for the May 30 performance, we are changing our style and will play fusion music keeping in sync with Coke Studio’s ideology. We have roped in a tabla and flute player, a classical guitar player, a sarangi player and a singer, who is trained in Carnatic classical music. We have converted three of our original songs into fusion numbers for this performance.” u00a0

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