Soulmate Live @ Hard Rock Cafe: Events in Hyderabad

REVIEW FOR SOULMATE LIVE @ HARD...

The famous Hard Rock Cafe chain has opened a branch in the city, and is hosting its first live band performance, by Soulmate, on 26th November. The concert will begin at 9pm.

Soulmate, inspired by the roots and groove sounds of the Blues, Blues-Rock, Soul, Rock 'n' Roll, Funk and R&B, came together in Shillong, in February 2003, playing their first concert at the Roots Festival at the Water Sports Complex in Umiam. Since then the band has performed many concerts all over the north-east and in different parts of India. They have also performed at the International Jazzmandu Festival in Kathmandu for 2 consecutive years, 2004 and 2005. The band comprises of Rudy Wallang (guitar and vocals), Tipriti Kharbyngar (vocals and guitar), Sam Shullai (drums) and Manas Choudhury (bass guitar). Rudy is the son of Shillong's popular musician Toto Wallang. He previously played with Mojo, also a blues band. The name of the band was taken from one of the songs from their album, Blues Is My Soulmate.

Singer/songwriter Rudy Wallang, leads this musical unit. Born into music, he grew up listening to his father Toto Wallang making music, and he started singing and playing the ukulele at a very tender age, eventually graduating to the guitar. Today, Rudy is a popular singer / songwriter / blues guitar players in the country with a long musical history, having been part of well known blues rock acts, Great Society & Mojo.

The vocalist and rhythm guitarist of Soulmate is Tipriti 'Tips' Kharbangar, started out by singing gospel songs at the local church choir, and is now drawn to the Blues.

Soulmate performs regularly in New Delhi, at The Haze Blues and Jazz Bar, as well as in other cities such as Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, Gurgaon, Goa, Darjeeling and Kalimpong, and in other places in the north-east. The band has performed at the Wills Lifestyle Fashion India Week in Delhi (2006), the Airtel Live concert in Hyderabad (2007), Saarc Bands Festival (2007), as well as for various corporate shows in Bangalore and Hyderabad. They took part in the 2007 and 2008 Pubrock Festivals organized by RSJ, and are regulars at the RSJ Live Nites. They were also a part of an album, contributing one song, "I See A Light", for an AIDS awareness campaign, organized and produced by the Thomson Foundation.

The band was the first and only blues band ever to represent India (Courtesy The Blues Club Of India) at the 23rd International Blues Challenge organized by The Blues Foundation of America and held in Memphis, Tennessee (USA), in February 2007. They were semi-finalists and performed at The Rum Boogie Caf