Chennai-based band Staccato, who bagged a coveted opportunity to perform at Olympics after being chosen from over 10,000 global entries, believes that events like Olympics should not be just treated as a ground for sportsperson to have a brush with fame.

“Global events like Olympics have opportunities for everyone and people with different interests especially youth should try to bag such opportunities,” says Vikram Sarthy, the keyboardist of the band.

He added, “Before performing at such prestigious platforms we used to think that concerts and musical evenings are the only places to showcase your musical talent as exhibitions are for painters. But performing at Olympics has changed our perspective altogether.”

The fusion band comprising a bunch of teenage music enthusiasts is one of the two bands of Asia which were selected by Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle from among 10,000 entries world over.

Though the band members had tough time struggling for sponsorships to fund their trip but once they landed at Olympic circuits they let their compositions do the talking.

“We began with a traditional invocation merged with Isayil Thodangudhamma from the film ‘Hey Ram’ whereas the highlight of the concert was popular number Chandralekha of A.R Rahman’s composition from ‘Thiruda Thirudan’ and the Rang De Basanti Number,” says vocalist Varun Govind.

The team made a special mention of the encouragement the band received from the music maestro A.R Rahman who acted as their guide and inspiration.

International designer Sidney Sladen designed the look for the young team for the concert, keeping basic Olympic committee’s stipulation of dress code. He gave a formal Indian traditional design that added to the halo of the team at the concert.

“We were also invited to perform at the London Festival Hall by the High Commission which was entirely different concert to that of the Olympics. It was mostly instrumental and we presented few of our own compositions and it was all spontaneous,” said pianist, Kaashif Rafiq.

Although this was not the first time that the band landed in international spotlight, as they had also won accolades for best score at the Paris Film Festival for the soundtrack for the film “Thinapayanam”

In the year 2011, Staccato represented India at the World Finals of Tum Tum Pa, a percussion event organised by Red Bull in Brazil.

“The sheer atmosphere at the concert venue located in vicinity of the Olympics Stadium premises was electrifying and different from what we had ever witnessed,” said Vikram.

The sponsors including Tata & Sons, Lyka Mobiles and Primex Scans and Labs added the last but much needed touch to help the band to head towards the Olympics torchlight.

“Needless to say the state of art arrangements on the especially aesthetically created shell shaped semi-circular stage with excellent acoustic controls made it a great experience to perform. The moments were magical to witness the crowd tapping their feet with our performances.” said another vocalist Ameena.

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