Thaikkudam Bridge to collaborate with Marco Minnemann & Guthrie Govan for Namah!

Thaikkudam Bridge has sustained an incredible positioning as a band ever since they started and hit the airwaves back in 2013. While they continue to have their niche, they were very less known until they got their first big break through musical mojo on Kappa TV for their original composition 'Fish Rock'. Post that their projects where they've played along with the likes of Avial and a paid tribute to Metallica's 'Nothing Else Matters' through a beautiful violin rendition too gathered a lot of attention.

Loudest.in got in touch with the band's manager Dr. Lakshmi Venugopal, we exchanged a fun conversation where she shared with us about the band's latest album, the artists they've collaborated with and their European Tour which kicks off in November.

Namah is their second album after Navarasam which met with a lot of critical acclaims. It was noticed and lauded by music maestro AR Rahman as well. Their title track was released by Kamal Hassan and Lamb Of God bassist  John Campbell too tweeted about them.

The Namah Concept

According to their spokesperson, Namah is a tribute to various renowned artists that influenced and inspired their music and made them who they are today. Namah meaning salutations is their tribute to all musicians who they consider legendary in the music industry.

While they are tightly lipped about the artists they collaborate with, they periodically release teasers on their Facebook page. They've brought out teasers with Indian Classical and fusion musician Niladri Kumar, Hindustani classical singer Ustad Rashid Khan, Grammy award winning Mohan Veena exponent Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt. However with eminent flutist Rakesh Chaurasia they collaboration is complete but yet to release the teaser.

Further more they've also teamed up with international guitar god Guthrie Govan and are set to play with extreme drummer Marco Minnemann.

When it comes to the collaboration with Marco Minneman who is on his first independent tour in India mid-September, while admitting it clashes with his tour, they said that nothing was set in stone. They also have a series of musicians who are recording next week but tight lipped on who they are as they wish to keep it a surprise for their fans.

Namah - The Album

Namah is composed of 10 tracks.While Navarasam had more Malayalam tracks, with their second album they have tried to broaden the range, they confirmed they have only one song in Malayalam but may choose to do two. The rest of the album will have two songs in Hindi, English, and Tamil, with one Tamil- Hindi hybrid. Each song has one musician who is known for his legendary talent. Marco Minnemann and Guthrie Govan will have one song each as well.

Navarasam clinched the deals

While collaborating with international and Indian artists, they were all extremely accommodating when recording their tracks.The Connect essentially happened via tour organizers of Guthrie Govan & Marco Minnemann, BlueTree. Minnemann, promptly agreed when they approached him to play for their album.

It was the same with Guthrie Govan when he conducted his guitar clinic in Bangalore. He met with guitarists Govind, Mithun and Ashok Nelson. This too was a tour organized by BlueTree.

All artists have been extremely accommodative when it comes to their music and Thaikkuddam Bridge considers themselves very lucky on that front. Once they presented the tracks through Krishna Bongana and Nila Madhav Mohapatra who were disciples of Ustad Rashid Khan, the artists were more than happy to collaborate. All artists they have collaborated with were impressed with Navarasam especially the title track of the same name.

Other Projects

Thaikuddam Bridge has also lent their talent to a number of Tamil and Malayalam movies. Their latest venture includes Bejoy Nambiar's 'Solo' which stars Dulquer Salman and Sachin Kundalkar's Marathi film Gulabjamun. Both films are slated to release in September 2017.

As if all this was not enough, they have a world tour in the offing starting out in Bangkok and moving on to European destinations such as Vienna, Germany and three stages in Ireland.

They're also set to play in NH7 Meghalaya on October 27-28.

'Namah' is set to release on September 20, 2017. With these many renowned musicians and more to come, It's time to pay your Salutations.