After Ilaiyaraaja who's music going to be hosted in olympics 2012. Now its Ar.Rahman composes one of the song in London Olympics inau...
Great legends Going to rock olympics.
Athletes at the London Olympics next month are likely to be grooving and swaying to the music of AR Rahman and Ilayaraja, thanks to Chennai-based band Staccato which has been selected to perform at the sports extravaganza.
Formed by a group of students in Chennai nearly eight years ago, the band has made the shortlist from among 10,000 entries to perform at the Olympic Park. The group was selected following a four-month screening process during which they sent in tapes of performances.
"It was Kaashif Rafiq, our youngest member, who applied through a family friend K Srimathy for the contest in February without telling us. So we initially thought the confirmation mail was spam," says keyboardist Vikram Sarathy. Kaashif had heard about the opportunity from his family.
"Since we experiment with different genres of music, our songs have an international flavour, though it is composed with a south Indian base," says Vandana Srinivasan, the lead vocalist.
Their music blends influences like jazz, Hindustani classical, and Carnatic. It also includes remixed numbers of Ilayaraja and AR Rahman. "We usually play their songs by adding our flavour to it, so that is what we plan to play at London too," says Aishvarrya Suresh C, another vocalist.
The band has been allotted two slots of 80 minutes each. Although they are not part of the high-profile opening or closing ceremonies, they are thrilled about playing to an international audience at the Park — where performances have been scheduled all through the Olympic fortnight.
Staccato intends to have a set list for one slot and do the other extempore. "We are really excited about that part, because that is when the best of our music comes out, " says Manoj, the violinist.
The set list besides the tributes to Rahman and Ilayaraja will include three or more of the band's compositions too. "It was our compositions Sound of Air and Salsa that got us the jig, so we are working on more such composition for the big day," says an excited Vikram.
The band had earlier participated in the Percussion festival held in Brazil last year.
This time, there is a small hitch though. The Olympic committee only provides them a stage to perform and the instruments, not the travel or accommodation arrangements.
While the band members are willing to stay at student hostels, they have estimated a cost of around Rs 18 to 20 lakh. The band says they will try giving sponsors all the exposure possible by organising a flag-off event in the city , and sporting the sponsors' logos while playing in the Olympics. "We have written to the Olympic committee requesting permission to wear our sponsors' logos on our T shirts," says Aishvarrya.
"Since we experiment with different genres of music, our songs have an international flavour, though it is composed with a south Indian base," says Vandana Srinivasan, the lead vocalist.
Their music blends influences like jazz, Hindustani classical, and Carnatic. It also includes remixed numbers of Ilayaraja and AR Rahman. "We usually play their songs by adding our flavour to it, so that is what we plan to play at London too," says Aishvarrya Suresh C, another vocalist.
The band has been allotted two slots of 80 minutes each. Although they are not part of the high-profile opening or closing ceremonies, they are thrilled about playing to an international audience at the Park — where performances have been scheduled all through the Olympic fortnight.
Staccato intends to have a set list for one slot and do the other extempore. "We are really excited about that part, because that is when the best of our music comes out, " says Manoj, the violinist.
The set list besides the tributes to Rahman and Ilayaraja will include three or more of the band's compositions too. "It was our compositions Sound of Air and Salsa that got us the jig, so we are working on more such composition for the big day," says an excited Vikram.
The band had earlier participated in the Percussion festival held in Brazil last year.
This time, there is a small hitch though. The Olympic committee only provides them a stage to perform and the instruments, not the travel or accommodation arrangements.
While the band members are willing to stay at student hostels, they have estimated a cost of around Rs 18 to 20 lakh. The band says they will try giving sponsors all the exposure possible by organising a flag-off event in the city , and sporting the sponsors' logos while playing in the Olympics. "We have written to the Olympic committee requesting permission to wear our sponsors' logos on our T shirts," says Aishvarrya.
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