Live is Better!

Evening with Soulmate

Soulmate is one of the premier blue’s band from India. Their journey started in 2001 when Rudy Wallang, then playing with Mojo met Tipriti ‘Tips’ Kharbangar, a choir singer. The rest, as they say, is history. LiveIsBetter had an opportunity to watch Soulmate in concert. Here’s a little something about the band and the Concert.

Their first performance as Soulmate was back in 2003. The band comprising of Rudy as guitarist/song writer/singer and Tipriti as singer/guitarist was one of a kind. They were India’s one of a kind, Blues band. Since then it has been no turning back.

They have performed across India, the SAARC Bands Festival in 2007, the RSJ PubRockFest in 2007 and 2008, and corporate gigs for Wills Lifestyle Fashion India Week, Airtel, and many many other venues. To their credit they represented India at the band at the 23rd International Blues Challenge organized by The Blues Foundation of America, in Memphis, Tennessee, USA, in February 2007. They were semi-finalists and performed at The Rum Boogie Café (Blues Club of The Year) alongside 150 other bands and musicians from all over the world. In Feb 2010 they represented India again at 26th International Blues Challenge which was followed by a tour across the rocky mountain state, Colorado.

On Feb 14 2010 Soulmate made a final stop of their US tour at Boulder. They performed at the Blues & Greens Restaurant, a popular venue for Blues music. The proceedings of the evening were started by the talented ‘Tips’ with a beautiful khasi song, ‘Sier Lapalang‘. This set the tone for a great evening to follow. To begin with, they played some slow soulful numbers and then picked up the tempo as the show went on. Singing duties were alternated between Tips and Rudy. Their performance moved everyone and I mean that in its true literal sense. After a first few songs a little girl started swaying and dancing in the small space between the stage and the restaurant. This brought out some more people from their seats to the make shift dance floor. The magic of blues began to take full effect.

Over the next couple of hours Tipriti’s amazing vocal range was on display and the crowd appreciated with a big cheer at the end of every song. The chemistry between Tipriti and Rudy was amazing and this synergy clearly brought out the best of them. Rudy and Tipriti had won the best guitarist & best female singer respectively at the 5th Jack Daniel Rock awards in India in 2010. It was evident in their performances why they are one of the best band to come out of India.

The set list, like we mentioned, was a good mix of slow soulful numbers and some peppy upbeat songs. During the break all the band mingled and interacted with the enthusiastic crowd and took pictures with their fans. They played a great set list, combination of covers and songs from their old & new album. From their latest album, Moving On they performed “set me free”, “Come ‘Round My House” & “cup of tea”. They covered varied songs like the popular Bill Wither’s song “Ain’t no sunshine” and ‘A change is going to come‘ by Sam Cooke. Once the band performed the last song of their set list, they left the small yet loud crowd asking for more. Rudy said “one for the road” and played “Blues is my soulmate“, from their debut album Shillong as the last song of their gig. The song was a great culmination to the amazing evening.

We would recommend everyone to go and check out Soulmate next time they play at the nearest venue near you. Check out their albums Shillong & Moving on on iTunes. Keep watching this space for more gig details by Soulmate.