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Delhi's first brush with a cappella

Six men, six voices, and no instruments – meet The Magnets who are on their maiden India tour. The Magnets are a cappella super-group featuring the hottest vocal and beat boxing talent on the international cappella scene and London's West End. After having performed at major venues such as the Buckingham Palace for the Queen's Jubilee, the O2 Empire and The Roundhouse with artists such as Blondie, Tom Jones, Michael Ball and Lisa Stansfield, the British band is in the Capital to perform at the Siri fort Auditorium on Friday evening.
Organised by AGP World, this performance will see the a cappella band literally sing the tunes of some of the greatest British songwriters like The Beatles, Rolling in the Deep by Adele, Shape of You by Ed Sheeren, also, Uptown Funk by Bruno Mars and even some Bollywood hits – all without an instrument in sight. The audience are in for a treat as 'Bollywood Soprano' Natalie Di Luccio, whose repertoire ranges from Opera to Bollywood hits, will join the guys to set the stage ablaze.
The Magnets are hoping to expose audiences to a cappella. "We know that it's not very big in India at the moment so we hope that people will like what we do and be interested in our style of music. One of the great privileges of our job is to travel and with that comes the responsibility to not only perform but also to listen; so we hope to learn a lot from listening to great Indian artists," said Nic Doodson, Director, The Magnets.
Comprising Nicolas Doodson, Michael Welton, James Fortune, Andrew Frost, Stephen Trowell and Fraser Collins, the band formed some 22 years ago when some of the guys met at the University College London. They decided to do a gig at the Covent Garden in London where you can perform on the street for money. When the guys had earned enough money to go to the pub and buy a few pints they'd stop singing and start drinking! Several years (and many pints) later they graduated from university and decided to try and see if they could make a living singing….and here they are after all these years.
Performing on stage in front of thousands of people, without any instrument to hide behind if you make a mistake is the biggest nightmare for any artist. So how does The Magnet make it look so effortless?
"A cappella is singing without a safety net. There are no instruments to hide behind (either physically or musically) – it's just you and your mates and a few microphones. So the first thing that's hard is making sure you are listening and singing at the same time. If you don't listen then you won't be in sync with your band-mates but if you listen too much you won't be able to perform properly. It takes a lot of practice to do both at the same time and feel comfortable," explained Nic.
He further added, "It's all about concentration. If you are onstage and thinking about something else like what you are going to eat after the show or whether you need to do the laundry then you are sure to be out of tune with the rest of the guys. So we need to be on the same page both musically and mentally."
Don't sit and wait for someone else to tell you about the breathtaking performance. See and hear their fusion of West with popular Indian music which will keep your foot tapping.
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