Jagriti theatre will play host to an evening of musical extravaganza with MoonArra on June 4 at 8 pm. MoonArra means three streams. The leitmotif of the band member’s lives is their quest and fascination for beautiful sounds — how sounds travelled from Northern India in the thirteenth century, journeyed through Persia, Morocco even up to Andalucian Spain.Their collective upbringing in Carnatic and Hindustani classical, the rhythmic and harmonic quality of jazz and a thousand other songs that they grew up with; meeting with diverse artistes, languages and styles was indeed a celebration of the human spirit. It is a journey that has no destination. They are a world fusion band on a mission to discover themselves through music and also other artists they meet everywhere.Their connection, experiences and search for a meaningful musical identity took shape around the year 2000 at the Remember Bhopal concert at Chennai organised by Greenpeace.The quest then continued with performances in niche, yet intimate venues, appreciative audiences where they performed with various musicians including ghatam exponent Sukanya Ramagopal.Prashaant Davidson, a talented and accomplished bassist accompanied Jagdeesh and Madhuri at the MF Hussein museum, Trans Indus Rainseed festival, Manipal County and many gigs. Tragically, Prashaant passed away in 2008.Around 2002, Jagdeesh met the brilliant Prakash Sontakke. He found in Prakash the energy and open approach to music similar to his and Madhuri’s. The flamboyant Karthik Mani joined them the following year and they began performing at small gigs and venues and found that we had a musical vibe and connect that needed nurturing. Both Prakash and Karthik come from a rich Indian Classical tradition and were already performing with well known musicians and bands in India and internationally.A trip to Europe promised a richer musical experience; and their style was further strengthened with music samples from around the world, UK included. It was finally in 2008, (after much persuasion from Madhuri) that Jagdeesh decided to give up a corporate career and decided to plunge fully into music. MoonArra had already been formed and had performed at the Indigo and Blues Jazz festival. But their major break came in 2009 when they were invited to perform at the Java Jazz Festival in Indonesia, the largest jazz festival in the world. Kenny (Wilson Kenneth) the youngest and newest member joined them then. The band consists of: Jagadeesh M R Self taught guitar player, composer and founder, Jagadeesh has been playing with pop, rock and jazz bands since the last 20 years. From a young age, Jagadeesh was exposed to Indian Classical sounds at home. His other influences come from jazz and ‘jamming’ with different musicians of different styles and from a brief stint in Spain learning Flamenco.Jagadeesh also recorded and uploaded a song called Road to Pondy, a breezy instrumental based on a mythical journey to Pondicherry, on the internet way back in 1999, on IUMA (iuma stands for internet underground music archive) and uploaded this song ‘just for fun’ and forgot all about it. The song received more than 1000 downloads and was also featured on an easy listening compilation by kidantrimmusic.com, an independent label in New York, and aired on radio stations in the US.Madhuri Jagadeesh Singer songwriter and co-founder of MoonArra Madhuri’s vocals has influences from all over the world, but rooted in India.Inspired by Singers like Susheela Raman, Sheela Chandra, Ella Fitzgerald and Freddy Mercury to name a few. She began singing in school operatas and small musical productions since she was eight years old.She’s also been singing in pop and rock bands professionally since she was eighteen.She’s always loved the irreverent and open sound of jazz and finds it the most inclusive form of music and a universal mode of communication.Madhuri has found a niche in world music and is constantly looking to expand the scope and possibilities of this genre with new influences and sounds from around the world as she travels.Prakash Sontakke Prakash is the son and disciple of Dr R B Sontakke, a doyen of the Gwalior Gharana and a direct disciple of the legendary pandit Omkarnath Thakur. Both of Prakash’s parents were distinguished music teachers at the prestigious Benares Hindu University.Prakash has a triple masters degree in Hindustani classical music — guitar, vocals and violin. Greatly inspired and personally blessed by pandit Brijbhushan Kabra, the pioneer of Indian slide guitar, Prakash prefers to play the Gayaki Ang (vocal style) which recreates the emotion of the human voice on the instrument.He is equally good at home jamming multi-cultural Funk in concert with triple Grammy winners, Ozomatli as he is exchanging phrases with North and South Indian classical virtuosi; opening for Rock Legend Jethro Tull or jurying auditions and training India’s young future singing stars. Prakash performs internationally, and his classical guitar concerts have been broadcast on All India Radio. Recipient of the prestigious Aryabhatta and Ganayogi Panchakshari Gawai awards, his creative explorations in jazz and world music are deeply underlined by his classical training.Karthik Mani The drummer, percussionist hails from a family of musicians — his father, T A S Mani is a renowned percussionist of The Karnataka College of Percussion, and his mother R A Ramamani is a reputed ground breaking Carnatic vocalist who has performed all over the world. He has performed in various prestigious festivals in India, China, Spain, Germany, USA, Canada, and Australia. He has performed with musicians like Louis banks, Karl Peters, Keith Peters, Amith Heri,Ranjit Barot, Ramesh Shotham, Mike Herting, Carnatic maestro Mandolin U Sreenivas and Carnatic flute Maestro N Ramani.For the past few years, he has been a part of internationally-renowned Carnatic percussion ensemble Tala Tarangini (of the Karnataka College of Percussion), Laya Lahiri, Vrushti, Laya Taranga,and Laya Milana Das.Wilson Kenneth Kenneth Wilson, known as Kenny is a young and phenomenally talented bass player, keenly honing his skills in jazz sensibilities.Kenny began by learning to play lead guitar with various bands in college. But the percussive nature and tonality of bass guitar playing was magnetic and Kenny found himself attracted more and more towards bass playing.Kenny found the ideal combination with a young group called Caesar’s Palace which chose to stay away from the typical rock format that many young bands ventured into. Instead, Caesar’s Palace, backed by Kenny experimented with funk, fusion and soul with some original compositions as well as covers.Caesar’s Palace performed all over India and Kenny’s bass playing started getting noticed. Kenny’s influences have been Victor Wooten, Phish, Pat Methany, Marcus Miller, James gang, John Mayer and a lot of Indian musicians who he has been around and jammed with.
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