An intimate venue, couples sit along an elongated corridor leading up to the bar and the three perfectly placed chairs wait for the artistes.

It was the second evening of Unplugged At Swirl in The Gateway Hotel Kolkata, held on the first Wednesday of every month. The dim red-and-violet mood LED lighting set the scene for what was undoubtedly going to be a mellow and calm performance at Swirl in The Gateway Hotel Kolkata on September 5. 

Soon the members of the band Mondegreen (guitarists Atandra Chakraborty, 30, and Rohan Chakraborty, 25, and singer-songwriter Nabanita Sarkar, 23) arrived and took their seats.  

After a quick introduction, the band sprang to life with their first tune, a cover of Ella Fitzgerald’s After You’ve Gone. The band made the song their own with bouncy vocals and chirpy guitar riffs. 

From then on, Mondegreen — meaning a misunderstood or misinterpreted word or phrase resulting from a mishearing of a song lyric —  went on to perform Tea for Two by Doris Day, original songs Tales of Rust and Yoko’d and Hindi covers like Khaabon ke parinday, a mash-up of Louis Armstrong’s Give Me a Kiss to Build a Dream On and Hindi song Kaisi paheli, and Pehla nasha. Yes, there was something for everyone. They also played the Pink Panther theme inside Yoko’d song! “The idea is to offer a platform to the local talent. The first Wednesday of every month was selected to offer a break mid-week, at the beginning of the month, and keep youngsters going with energy,” said Sourav Ghosal, general manager, The Gateway Hotel Kolkata.

A CHAT WITH THE BAND

What kind of themes are there in your music and lyrics?

Nabanita: The song Tales of Rust, as the title goes, are stories about old wishes and desires, nostalgia and reminiscing times that are now rust. The other one called Yoko’d is kind of a light-hearted banter track about a lady pulling a Yoko on bands. Lyrics vary from personal experiences to literature of modern times and past times. Since I mainly write and compose songs in Mondegreen, I enjoy the process of sharing like- minded views about most of the things we learn and see around us. 

Rohan: We also kind of like ballad-ish songs.

Who are your influences?

Nabanita: Many actually. The three of us have different influences. 

Rohan: I have been listening to jazz for a long time. I started playing seriously around two or three years back and I think my biggest influence would be Kurt Rosenwinkel.

Atandra: She (Nabanita) came from bluegrass, and he’s (Rohan) pure jazz, post-1940s fusion jazz, and I have a huge list of inspirations and genres.

So how did you guys meet?

Nabanita: I have been friends with Rohan for a while now, and then they met (gesturing to Atandra and Rohan). 

Rohan: Yeah we connected through Facebook.

Who does the majority of the songwriting?

Nabanita: I have been writing before the band started, so after we got together, I incorporated all these things. They (Atandra and Rohan) write their own songs as well.

Atandra: Yeah, I write my own songs, and I am trying to catch up with her.

Tell us about your upcoming EP….

Nabanita: Rohan and I both are in college, so we also have exams coming up and because of that everything gets delayed, so it takes a lot of time. We are planning on putting out one single this month. In the next year I think we will have the material for a new album. Because we have a lot of songs written down, like more than a dozen, it’s just about finding the right time to do it in a studio.

What are your thoughts on the the venue?

Atandra: This place has a very nice ambience. 

Nabanita: The crowd was attentive.

Text: Jaime Calle Moreno and Yasmin Turner
Picture: B. Halder