Sweet and savoury

Vancouver’s Delhi 2 Dublin fuse without force

Articles about Vancouver’s Delhi 2 Dublin seem to have a script. First skepticism—will a combination of Irish and Indian music work? Then the writer goes to a show or listens to one of the band’s four releases and is pleasantly surprised. This ain’t just ready-for-coffee-shop-listening world music.

Thing is, Delhi 2 Dublin didn’t set out to combine Celtic fiddling and bits of bhangra. All the six members of the group wanted to do was make music. As vocalist Sanjay Seran explains, it began as an experiment. “It was just supposed to be one collaboration show for Celtic fest; it was only 15 minutes long. And we ended up getting a lot of bookings after that!” A year later, they were playing large festivals and selling CDs.

Given the crowd approval, why the apprehension on behalf of music critics? Seran uses a very Canadian metaphor to illustrate his point: “It’s like eating sausages with maple syrup. Sure, there are some people who really don’t like it—like some people really hate our sound. But when you eat sweet and savoury together, there’s this magical thing that happens. You don’t think they’re going to go together, but they really complement each other.” Sure, it may be a crazy mish mash of stuff, but that could be said for a lot of music these days.

And there is nothing forced about Delhi 2 Dublin’s experiments in multicultural music. Seran makes it clear: “The reason it worked is that we were all having fun with it. Doing fusion for the sake of fusion can get ugly. We never put any pressure. We don’t over-think it.”

This has allowed some dub reggae to creep in. For those that might raise an eyebrow again, Seran is quick to add, “In the U.K., they’ve been putting reggae and Punjabi music together since the 80s.” It really is that simple. Adding influences only happens because it just sounds good. “You ask why, it’s because we love it,” says Seran. “You can’t help but groove to it. It’s awe­some—that’s why it’s there!” ■

WITH AT CLUB LAMBI ON FRIDAY, NOV. 25, 9 P.M., $15

Short URL: http://www.montrealmirror.com/wp/?p=27195