Papon, Pankhi, Leslie Lewis, Harshdeep Kaur and Sanjeev Thomas at Tantra on Tuesday night. Picture by Rashbehari Das

Even though Coke Studio@MTV India was overshadowed by its wildly successful Pakistani counterpart, the mini concert held at Tantra on Tuesday night was one rocking show. From the moment the announcement was made on Facebook — that Coke Studio@MTV Live Minicerts were coming to Calcutta — the city’s music lovers went into a tizzy. “Are you attending Coke Studio?” was the burning question, never mind that it was on a Tuesday night.

“When I posted about Coke Studio at Tantra on the Someplace Else group, no one even asked why Tantra?” said Gautam Singh, manager of SPE. ‘Have music, will listen’ seemed to be the mantra.

During a chat earlier in the evening on Tuesday, Leslie Lewis, the creative director of Coke Studio (India), seemed a tad defensive about comparisons drawn with Coke Studio (Pakistan). “It can’t all be Sufi music. India’s a different country with diverse colours and kinds of music. If it’s Indian, it will have Assam, Bengal, Tamil and perhaps some Sufi because we also have Punjab. Besides, it’s a little unfair to compare Season One (India) with Season Four (Pakistan),” he said.

But Lewis needn’t have been on the backfoot because the Tantra audience lapped it all up. Be it Sanjeev Thomas’s Indian Jadoo (a take on Ankhiyan milao from Madhuri Dixit-Sanjay Kapoor’s Raja) or a reggae funk variation of Khilte hain gul yahaan (Shashi Kapoor-Rakhi-starrer Sharmilee) sung by Harshdeep Kaur and Sanjeev (originally recorded by KK and Mathangi), the songs with a Bollywood connect hit home. The concert ended with all the artistes — Pankhi, Papon, Harshdeep, Sanjeev T and Lewis — joining voices for a powerhouse version of Tum jo mil gaye ho.

The minicerts have toured 10 cities in India and have been received well, said Leslie. “There have been times when people have sung along to every line,” he added. Perhaps the real test is to hold the attention of a crowd that can’t sing along — a test Papon passed with flying colours. “In Assam, when we sing this, women dance,” he said, enacting Bihu steps while singing Bihu (Pak pak). As if on cue, a girl watching the show from the bar upstairs shrieked: “I want to go there and dance!”

Now what’s a concert if it can’t make you dance?