Get ready to groove people, ‘Big G’ is in da house! Gopi Sunder a.k.a. Big G has launched a band, officially, ‘Gopi Sunder’s Band Big G,’ making him the latest Mollywood music composer to get on the band bandwagon. The name of the band is a moniker that the hep and happening music composer/singer earned after one of his first background scores for Big B went viral.
“Band Big G is a 100 per cent live band; something akin to old world gigs where there is no electronic music or interference but pure music with a modern touch, of course. The keyboard, for instance, will be used as a piano in the seven-piece ensemble and not to electronically recreate sounds. I want the audience to feel the music and only the music,” says Gopi.
The band just had their first big gig in Dubai in front of a capacity crowd (that’s around 3,000 people) at Al Nasr Leisureland, one of the biggest such venues in the city. “We played four hours of music. That’s 25 popular songs in Malayalam uninterrupted by comedy skits or dance routines,” says Gopi. They played “a fusion compilation” of his own songs, plus those of greats such as Johnson Master, Baburaj, A.R. Rahman and the like. “The biggest achievement was that the entire crowd stayed put throughout the event, which is a huge deal because the usual attention span for such a music concert is one hour! That’s when I realised I’m onto something here,” says Gopi. “Band Big G was the talk of the town,” he fairly crows with excitement.
Young singing sensations such as Afsal, Najim Arshad, Haricharan, Divya S. Menon and Mohammed Maqbool Mansoor (of Mukkathe Penne -fame), newcomer Sruthi Lekshmi and so on were part of the band’s premiere show. “All of them are professionals, so it took only two days of practice to go live,” says the composer. However, only Gopi is the constant in Big G. “The band has a revolving quota of vocalists and instrumentalists depending on the audience and the event. If we are playing at a wedding, for example, there will singers who are more into melody. If it’s a Muslim wedding, specifically, we will have vocalists with a Qawwali background, and so on,” he says, adding that the band is not planning an original soundtrack, well, for the moment, at least.
More shows are in the works; 13, in fact. “I would like to play as often as possible but right now can make the time with my professional commitments. The next is possibly in Abu Dhabi or Qatar. My wish is to play one gig every couple of months,” he says. Looks like we’ll have to wait a bit for the band to play in Kerala but until that there’s always Gopi’s new music to listen to. Let the music play.
IN THE WORKS…
Soundtracks of:
Prithviraj-Indrajith-Murali Gopy- starrer Tiyaan
Amal Neerad’s untitled Dulquer Salmaan film
Pratap Pothen’s Love in Anchengo , scripted by Anjali Menon
Boban Samuel’s Shajahanum Pareekuttiyum , starring Kunchacko Boban, Jayasurya and Amala Paul Mohanlal-starrer Pulimurugan
A couple of Telugu films – a Nani-starrer and Premam ’s remake in Telugu, starring Naga Chaithanya.
