Shankar Mahadevan, Indian Ocean's splendid finale to Storm fest

Coorg (Karnataka), Feb 3 (IANS) An enthusiastic crowd and two powerhouses jamming together, the finale of the second edition of Storm Music festival was an amalgamation of music and fun.

Bollywood composer Shankar Mahadevan and one of the leading rock bands, Indian Ocean, performed to some of the hard-hitting numbers and left the audience craving for more.

This was the first time that these two powerhouses of the music industry collaborated together for the finale of the two-day fest at the misty landscape of Napoklu here Saturday.

Both chose to play a mix of best of their compositions and performed three to four songs together.

"Bhor", a rendition of "Breathless", "Are ruk ja re bande" and an old Kannada folk song" were some of them.

"It is lovely to collaborate with them (Indian Ocean). I love them for being the wonderful musicians that they are and also as individuals. I'm a proud mainstream musician but having said that I do firmly believe there's more to musical talent in India than just Bollywood," Mahadevan told IANS.

The house was packed with audience from the age group of 16 to 60 having gala time seeing the gig.

While some came to see the association, there were others who were huge fan of both the musicians.

For Rahul Ram, one of the senior members of the band, it was fun associating with Mahadevan. "He is superb to work with and I think we are here to have fun and bring out the best from all."

Talking about music festivals happening around India, Mahadevan felt such events are "promoting young talent".

"Music festivals are coming up everywhere in India and that is the only way to go ahead. People are exposed to a wide variety of music and the experience... being at a music festival itself is unique. It is an experience, unlike any other," he said.

As many as 40 Indian and five international artists performed at the two-day event.

From Indian names like, Karsh Kale, Raghu Dixit, Advaita to international Electronic Dance Music (EDM) artists like Dash Berlin, Michael Woods and Bobina - the event was a mix of east and west.

Shankar Mahadevan Pictures