Day 20: Mumbai to Agonda

As our concert with Imran and Hanif Khan was cancelled last minute because of medical emergency in the promoters family, we made new plans, to go spend a few days in Goa, as Mumbai is a pretty loud and dusty place.
We had to pack our bags and get ready to go to the airport, but we also had to pick up our new threads from the tailors in Santacruz.
Peter, Mark and Jeremy arrived at the Townhouse Hotel and wanted to move into our room.
It all worked out fine and after paying for overweight one more time, we were on our plane to Goa.

A friend from Bremen had recommended to go to Agonda Beach in the south of Goa, and to stay at his friends place called Tutti Garden.

The driver, that was supposed to pick us up, was not there, so Raj, a guy who had started talking to us while we were trying to find out, if our scheduled driver was going to come after all, lured us to his car. It was no official taxi, and also parked outside of the airport, so with all our luggage we rolled down the road.
He had a nice, big car, putting all our suitcases in was no problem, and he offered to take us to Agonda for 1800 Rupees instead of the 2000 the taxi company wanted.

After 20 minutes the first 600 Rupees were due, as he had to get fuel.

We arrived in the dark, Ashe, the guy running Tutti Garden was there, we put our stuff in the Bungalow, sat down at the bar, had a beer and ordered some food.

Well, aren’t we 50 meters from the beach? Let’s go have a look!

We immediately met part of a film crew from Hyderabad, who were having their after work celebrations on the beach and wanted to know where we were from. Nice guys, but communication was limited.

The food was nice and spicy, the beer was cold, and barkeeper Trevor was trying his best to get us to try his special Fireball shot.

Day 18 Zakir Hussain Concert

Sooper Looper @ Dolally’s Deck

Immo wanted to create some loops while in Mumbai, so he set up his Sooper Looper at the open air Bar next to our Hotel and did some sessions in the afternoon.

In the evening we visited a concert of Tabla Master Zakir Hussain in the evening in a pretty posh Auditorium.

Day 17 downtown rushhour train

It all started with an innocent train trip towards downtown. Difficult enough to find the right train, as most of the writing was in Hindi. Immo was on a solo trip to film some more details of Mumbai and to record some sounds.

Immo got off at Mumbai Central and walked towards the western coastline, ended up at Tata Garden, where a taxi driver took him to the Hanging Gardens for a fix rate of 100 Rupees.

You can have a nice view from up there over the back bay, the garden itself was not that spectacular.

The next taxi driver switched on his meter without discussion and took Immo to the Gateway of India.


Pretty busy place it is, lots of Indians from all over India and also Tourists getting their selfies on…

Stop: selfie time!

Walking back north alongside the Oval Maidan Park, where lots of Cricket was being played, passing a flea market with clothing, shoes and all kinds of stuff.
Time for a little snack, sugarcane juice and a chai.

Then on towards Maharaj Terminus Station, where there were loads of people running towards loads of trains, again lots of Hindi, little english.

Well, Immo knew, he had to with trains at Dadar, so asking the locals helped. Getting on the train was easy, getting off in Dadar was impossible, as loads of new passengers just smashed their way on to the train. Even the next stop he could not get off, because he was on the wrong side of the wagon, no way to get through.

caught in rush hour

So within minutes, the train had taken him way to the east to Kurla. Got off, waited for the train in the opposite direction, managed to switch trains in Dadar, but arriving in Khan Road Station he was again caught on the wrong side of the train and had to hang on for another stop, as he was literally hanging outside the train with his camera bag sticking out even further, in the dark, not knowing how much space to the closest poles would be left.

Exciting stuff! So from Santa Cruz Station he had enough of train hopping and took a rickshaw to Khan road and was happy to find Haase and Buttlar at the Hotel, who had explored Juhu some more.

Day 16 : New threads

As well as the two Johannes play together, they also take synchronized naps.

So while those two were recharging, Immo sat on Dolally’s deck and wrote some blogs.

We wanted to get some clothes made in Mumbai, so it was time to look for the right tailor. We went to Santacruz and found two different tailors to get shirts and pants made.

Measurements were taken and so it would take a few days until the new threads would be ready.

Day 16: Khar West and Santacruz

Looking for some new clothes to wear on stage…

Gepostet von Scylla am Dienstag, 22. Januar 2019
So here is the daily movie of day 16

Day 15: Khar Road, Juhu Beach and Big fat Indian Wedding

Waking up on a sunday on Linking Street it was incredibly quiet. People were playing badminton, where before there was constant traffic, the shops were closed, the market not open. Does that mean, there is something like a sunday in Mumbai? By lunchtime it was clear: it is only during the morning hours. Some stores stayed closed, but all of the street hustle was back.

We had looked on the internet, if we could find a nicer hotel, but as the Photos for the Linkway Hotel looked nice on the internet as well, we decided to look at them in real life.

Getting a rikshaw to drive us with the taximeter on still wasn’t possible, as the drivers waiting on the street corner quickly discussed, what they would charge us, for our planned route.

In the end we went with Sam Sam, a young guy, taking us to Khar Road Station first. But not so fast: a policemen stopped us, as we were going the wrong way down a oneway street, but Sam Sam did some talking and we could continue. A hotel that Haase knew was freshly renovated and incorporated into the omnipresent OYO group, a huge chain of indian hotels.

Buttlar and Haase checked out the room, while Immo waited in the rikshaw.

Next stop was a different hotel from the OYO group, but it was not as nice as the first one.

So on to Juhu Beach, where a good looking hotel was waiting, but as we then found out, they do not rent out to foreigners, as it is still too new! Only Indians can rent rooms, but no unmarried couples!

So after being discriminated for not being indian, we had to fight our hurt feelings with food, and a cold Pepsi.

In front of the store a young man was preparing Paan and Haase had to try.

A variety of ingredients was put on a leaf and finally folded together and after Haase put it in his mouth, he looked like he had been beaten up!

Our rolling tobacco reserves were almost gone so we were trying to find a kiosk that sold some. Not so easy. Every Kiosk was selling long rolling papers and cigarettes, but no tobacco. What do they do with the papers then?

We were told, there was a kiosk at Kings Hotel, which we finally found after asking two more times. We bought what we needed and were still standing

there, when two Motorcycle Cops arrived on one motorbike, waived at the salesman and took of with two single cigarettes in their hand….

Daily Video Part 1:

Day 15: Part 1 – Juhu Beach

Looking for a new home in Mumbai, we went to Khar West and Juhu Beach

Gepostet von Scylla am Dienstag, 22. Januar 2019

 

Imran Khan had invited us to come see him and the Khan family play at a big fat Indian wedding at the Renaissance Hotel in Mumbai east.

The taxi ride there was exciting, as the sun was setting , and we finally made it through the gates, as all the cars were checked for contraband or explosives.

Bride and Groom were sitting under a Cannopee made out of roses, pretty much everything was covered with roses.

A big buffet was open, with all types of tasty food, but we still had not found the Khan family, were we at the wrong wedding?

Then we heard familiar sounds from a little further away in a different area. We went there, and the whole theme changed from red to green, a area the size of a football field was filled with tables, seats and couches, a big stage with a single couch was set up and the Khan family was just finishing up their soundcheck.

There were somewhere between 1000-2000 Guests, astonishing to see something like that.

We hung around with the Khans for a little while after their Gig, but the took a walk towards the street, to find a cab. Turns out it was going to be a rickshaw.

After a hell of a ride, we arrived at Khar Road Station and called it a night.

Daily Video Part 2:

Day 15 Part 2 Big Fat Indian Wedding

Day 15 Part 2 Big Fat Indian Wedding

Gepostet von Scylla am Dienstag, 22. Januar 2019

Day 14: playing at Bandra Base

Daily Movie:

Day 14: Concert at Sandra Base in Mumbai

We played a concert at a small cultural Venue called The Bandra Base

Gepostet von Scylla am Samstag, 19. Januar 2019

Waking up in Mumbai, seeing the surrounding in the light of day, listening to the constant concert of honking is a special experience.

We walked around the neighborhood, had some chai and got settled in.

Haase and Immo tried to get a Riksha, but they would not take us with the taximeter running, they wanted to charge a fixed price, that was obviously too high, so we ended up walking to a restaurant that Haase had been to before.

We went to Bandra Base after lunch, to check out where exactly it was and met Wood, an american, who is somewhat working there.

He told us to come back at 16:30 to setup and soundcheck, as there would be a dance class from 18-20h.

This time, we were looking for a taxi, and again: fixed price!

Well, 150 Rupees later we arrived at Bandra Base with all of our gear. 5 or 6 Tickets had been sold online, so we knew, there would be more people in the audience, than on stage, which is always good.

We did not book the sound guy for 1000 Rupees, so Immo fulfilled his duties as engineer and also installed the recording equipment, while Haase and Buttlar got comfortable on stage.

At the end of our soundcheck there were already a few people waiting for the dance class to begin, so we left to get some dinner around the block.

We ended up eating in front of a take away place, sitting on the stools of their drivers, or rather riders, because they were delivering on bicycles.

On the way back, we stumbled across a beer and wine shop and could not resist, so we hid in a dark alley and enjoyed a cold one, while fantasizing about being apprehended by police for drinking on the street. We kept the bottles wrapped in paper, figuring, if that is legal in the US, maybe they have a similar rule here. We still don’t know.

We played for about 75 minutes and at 23h everything came to an end.

The deal was a 50/50 split, so our payout was 500 Rupees!

Back at the Hotel, the accumulated Data was transferred and our concert setup discussed, as to how we can improve our common playing situation.

Work in progress!

Day 13: on to Mumbai!

Daily Movie:

Scylla and Flowin IMMO in India – Day 12: Concert in Thiruvananthapuram

We played at the Goethe Zentrum Thiruvananthapuram and had a lot of fun! Here also a videolink to our "Zugabe" in Malayalam: https://youtu.be/xOetrnlRVeQ

Gepostet von Scylla am Freitag, 18. Januar 2019

 

Bobby picked us up at the hotel and we returned to the Goethe Zentrum, to meet with the Boss, who is also Honorarkonsul for Kerala, to talk about future visits, and also bringing along Imran and Hanif Khan, to present the german/indian fusion on stage. It was a very friendly meeting, and now they are open for our concept to be sent after returning to Germany.

And we even made it into the newspapers!

Percussion shopping was on top of the list, as Buttlar was looking to buy coconut shakers, a friend of his had recommended. Bobby picked us up and we drove to the shop, where a friend of Bobby, a guitar player who was at our show yesterday , and his father opened the door for us.

Time for lunch, which is when Bobby showed us a videoclip of him acting in a Mollywood Comedy, yes, there is not only Bollywood, but also Mollywood, the Malayalam version of film industry. Funny stuff…

Bobby was a very nice host, fun to be around, but we had to say goodbye.

After two more hours of hanging out at the Hotel, a driver took us to the airport and we checked in without further problems. The flight was a little bit delayed, but we landed in Mumbai after about 2,5h flight time.

Another prepaid taxi took us to Bandra, a part of Mumbai, where Haase had already been before and we managed to find the Hotel Linkway on Linking Street.

The rooms were indeed different to the ones we had for last night in Thiruvananthapuram, but we new, Mumbai was going to be loud…

Quarter Canteen was the bar next door, and we managed to drink one welcome beer before they closed down at 1:00h.

Good night in Mumbai!

Day 12: Concert at Goethe Zentrum in Thiruvananthapuram

Daily Movie:

Scylla and Flowin IMMO in India – Day 12: Concert in Thiruvananthapuram

We played at the Goethe Zentrum Thiruvananthapuram and had a lot of fun! Here also a videolink to our "Zugabe" in Malayalam: https://youtu.be/xOetrnlRVeQ

Gepostet von Scylla am Freitag, 18. Januar 2019

One last dip in the Ocean, one last coconut for breakfast and we were on our way to the big city.

Charles got two porters to carry our suitcases up the hill. Tough dudes, who carry heavy loads on the head!

Sadiq dropped us of at the Windsor Hotel around 14:30h, for the first time on hour trip we had three single rooms on the 8th floor. Great view over Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of Kerala.


We jumped into the pool and were ready for pickup at 16h to go to the Goethe Zentrum for setup and soundcheck.

This is where we met Bobby, who Haase had been in touch with for the coordination of our concert. The Goethe Zentrum is a language school, but they also host cultural events in their garden, where a small amphitheater is set up.

A huge backdrop with our names had been printed and the sound crew was almost ready for us. A group of young german students was there and eager to try their first real life small talk with Germans, and take some selfies, of course.

Djidin, the sound guy, was very cooperative and soundcheck was done quickly, we even setup our recording devices to record individual tracks of the music for later mixing.

After soundcheck we went to the front of the house and met a few young men, who had been studying german for the past few months, as they are planning to come to Germany to continue their engineering studies. Their german was pretty good already, although they also had not had a normal conversation with a native german. Communication is fun!

The theater filled up pretty quickly and we started playing on time, splitting our set into three parts: first Flowin Immo , then Scylla and finally the collaboration of both acts.

The Kerala crowd reacted well, and things got wild, when for the last number some words in their language called Malayalam were used instead of german words. They proposed Sundaren (beautiful man) and quickly Sundari (beautiful woman) was added. Sundaren Sundari !

After the show, we were presented with a gift basket of almonds, cashew, dates, raisins and some chocolate sweets, and we had to take one group selfie after another.

You can see a lot of photos from the show here:

We packed our instruments and were taken back to the Hotel, had dinner and went to bed after an exciting day in beautiful Kerala, the land of the coconut!

Day 11: Backwater Boys in Poovar

Long story short:

Day 11: Kovalam Backwaters Boattrip

we became the Backwater Boys today…

Gepostet von Scylla am Mittwoch, 16. Januar 2019

Haase and Immo got up around 9 and went for a morning swim followed up by a fresh coconut and a breakfast at the german bakery with indian Dosa, a thin rice pancake filled with curry potatos. We could have had Frankwurter sausages or Käsespätzle… who would have known…

Some video and audio editing ensued, as you all shoud be able to take part in our experience here.

Also a short Promo Trailer for the Alcheringa Festival was recorded by Immo.

On our last day in Kovalam Beach we had to see some more of the surrounding area, so Charles arranged his driver Sadiq for us and a boat trip through the backwaters.

We had scheduled a taxi to the Kovalam Backwaters for 15:30h, a boattour through mangroves south of Kovalam. The ride there through the town of Kovalam and other villages was very scenic and our driver Sadiq, the same one who had picked us up at the airport showed us a viewpoint on the way, where we could look over a fishervillage, which we would visit on the way back, from a hill above. Beautiful!

The price for 1,5h boattrip was 3500 RP for two and 500 RP for the extra person, Sadiq negotiated 200 RP discount, which he would later on get as an extra tip. Lots of boats with mostly indian families were on the water, sometimes we got into traffic jams in the very narrow waterways, leading us through palmtrees as far as you could see. We passed by floating restaurants and also a floating hotel, saw eagles and other birds.

Needless to say a lot of photo and video footage was taken there.

On our way back we bought some red bananas, this time for a more realistic price of 70 RP for 7 Bananas or 1,35 kg. Tasty.

Sadiq took us into the small fishermens village which we had seen from above before, a christian settlement directly in a forest of palmtrees by the beach. We got out of the car to take a look around at the beach and a group of young boys who were playing football were very interested in us. Johannes and Johannes joined the game for a few kicks while Immo was filming the scenery. Sunlight was fleeting, we continiued on to the fishing harbour where three mosques of different sizes where situated.

Sadiq told us about a cyclone that happened last year, which killed many fishermen, as they did not know it was coming. They only have mobile phones, and their service stops about 15-20 kilometers out in the sea. So as a consequence the Kerala Government has issued satellite phones to the fishermen, so a disaster like this would not happen again.

We stopped by our hotel for an hour, Immo edited the Promo trailer while we had a beer on our balcony with an austrian guy, who just started his one year trip around the world.

Time for Dinner, this time at Black Cat restaurant. Gobi 65, Chili Paneer and some spicy fish, topped of with a chocolate pancake with icecream.

Perfect last evening in Kovalam, as we are headed to our concert in Thiruvananthapuram tomorrow.

Day 10 : Rooftop Session for real!

Coconut, Fruit Salad and a dip in the sea for breakfast. Add a scoop of ice cream and some coffee.

Ready to set up the rooftop session before lunch. The sun is relentless. burning down on us, the bodies sweating, the machines melting.

But still, we were done in time, to get some good food at Anitha’s and then beginn at 16:30 with less heat and still enough light.

We played a session and then suddenly the electricity was gone. Vincent, who was working the reception, kindly offered to switch on the generator so we could continue. 

Charles dropped by and started live streaming , although most of the music could only be heard on our headphones… Great setting on top of the Vedic Heritage Boutique Hotel, overlooking Kovalam. 

Scylla recording a music video on the rooftop

Gepostet von Vedic Heritage am Dienstag, 15. Januar 2019

The electricity once again disappeared after two to three sessions, but came back so we finished the day with a piece called „Strom“, german for Electricity. 

Packing up went quickly and in the fleeting daylight, but then the Gigabytes of material had to be transferred to hard disk. Johannes and Johannes went to the beach to find the place for dinner, as Immo kept feeding the computer with todays data and typing the blog. 

152 Gigabyte later time for dinner…

While the data transfer was still running Johannes and Johannes tried to go for a little evening swim in the dark, when they were caught and yelled at by Kovalam Police. A serene goes of for about a minute at 18h to get everybody out of the water… the ocean is closed for the day….

Here is the daily movie:

Day 10: Kovalam Rooftop Sessions

We did some live Recordings on top of Vedic Heritage Boutique Hotel, the music you hear was created on this day.

Gepostet von Scylla am Mittwoch, 16. Januar 2019

 

We met at ABC , which was the first ever restaurant in Kovalam back in 1977, things have changed since then…. Dinner was delicious and we finished things off with a Kerala Cocktail at fusion bar.

Back at the Hotel we skipped through the sessions we recorded today, dope results with just about 7 Songs/Jams.