Aadesh gigs with Wyclef Jean, on cloud nine

Mumbai, Feb 10 (IANS) After his two back-to-back performances with Haitian musician Wyclef Jean, Bollywood composer Aadesh Shrivastava is on cloud nine.

Mumbai, Feb 10 (IANS) After his two back-to-back performances with Haitian musician Wyclef Jean, Bollywood composer Aadesh Shrivastava is on cloud nine.

Close on the heels of his triumphant gig in Toronto Jan 12 with Jean, Shrivastava performed live with the rapper at the prestigious House Of Blues in West Hollywood, Los Angeles, Feb 8. No Indian has ever performed at this venue reserved for blues artistes and folk musicians.

The theme of this historic evening was 'Hollywood Meets Bollywood' and he jammed Jean on stage with pop icon Shakira's drummer accompanying the duo.

'The first gig on Feb 8 was already sold out. They had to add another gig for Feb 10,' Shrivastava told IANS on phone from Hollywood.

He made Jean perform some bhangra numbers and other Indian folk music.

'The idea is not to ape the western pop icons but to take our Indian music there. It's the only way we can make an impact in the west. We can never be one of them. I tried to sing some songs in English for an international audience and ended up sounding silly.

'I proudly took our Punjabi music to The House Of Blues, and made sure it registered with the foreigners,' said Shrivastava who's all set to mix symphonies and ragas for Uru Patel's ambitious international epic 'Hanuman'.

During his show in Toronto last month Shrivastava spent an interesting evening with 'Bourne Identity' star Matt Damon.

'He was our anchor for the evening and I didn't know who he was. I don't watch too many Hollywood films,' he said.

'After the show, Matt came over to compliment me for our music. He really liked the bhangra grooves. I paid a compliment back to him by saying he was the best anchor I had ever worked with. Matt looked at me as if I was joking. But graciously accepted my compliment.'

It was then that the composer was informed about the real vocation of the evening's star-anchor.

'I was so bloody embarrassed. I decided there and then to return home and get DVDs of 'Goodwill Hunting' and 'Bourne Identity'. But I was bowled over by Matt's sporting spirit.

'In India if one fails to recognise a big star, he or she gets so pissed off. Not only did Matt laugh about my ignorance, he said he enjoyed it. We spent the whole evening discussing Bollywood and Indian music.'

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