The success of Thaikkudam Bridge is evidence that music transcends barriers of genres and languages. According to the band’s official website, their strength lies in both versatility and unpredictability, thanks to over 10 vocalists and instrumentalists from the length and breadth of the country. They are known to blend rock music with folk and classical music influences.
The band from Kerala will perform in Bengaluru on November 24 as part of the two-day Bandland music festival. Ahead of their visit, singer and bassist, Vian Fernandes, said music transcends language barriers among their fans.
He elaborated: “Even I don’t understand most of the songs because I’m not a Malayali. But I resonate with the music and I think it’s the same with our fans. Over all these years we (the band’s repertoire) have evolved so much and language barrier is not an issue. Usually, people come to enjoy and absorb everything we are offering as a band.”
The band added that states like Tamil Nadu and Kerala provide a conducive environment for genre-bending musicians like them. “School and college fests (in such places) encourage original talent. If the audience is encouraging, then artistes practice more and try to come up with better material,” said guitarist Ashok Betty Nelson.
They were speaking from their experience. While Thaikkudam Bridge began their journey doing covers well over a decade ago, it was the overwhelming response to their original material that pushed them forward on this path, recalled Fernandes.
They released their first album ‘Navarasam’ in 2015. It helped them expand their body of work “in terms of music and also live performances”, he continued.
Bengaluru is familiar ground for the band. Could the raging language row in the city put a crick in Thaikkudam Bridge’s setlist for their upcoming gig? Nelson said such tensions come up mostly in corporate gigs. In ticketed events, he added, language is not an issue as people who buy tickets are usually their fans.
He recalled an instance from their Bengaluru gig in July 2023. “We were briefed by the organisers to keep the concert as linguistically diverse as possible. So we were singing in Malayalam, Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and, of course, Kannada. But two Kannada songs were not good enough for some in the audience, who were creating a ruckus,” said Nelson. They didn’t realise the audience was booing them, so they carried on. “We just thought they were cheering us on in Kannada as we are used to boisterous crowds in our concerts,” Nelson said with a laugh.
— With inputs from PTI.