Meet Alluri. Meet The Italians… Next, watch them play a whole new brand of music where Telugu converges with Italian
In Alluri Shriram’s home, the wide-open windows bask the rehearsals underway in a bright light, causing the array of instruments to gleam with anticipation for the upcoming concert at Gachibowli Stadium this weekend. Seven musically-talented men will take to the stage and keep thousands on their feet with a unique amalgam of Telugu and Italian notes.
Alluri and The Italians were united by producer Tomasso Colliva and musician Massimo Martellotta; it’s a move either party never thought they’d ever do in their lives. While Hyderabadis are more than familiar with Alluri’s soothing vocals, it’s the addition of the Roberto Dragonetti, Pietro Ubaldi, Davide Arzuffi and Paolo Raineri that’ll elevate the tracks from his album O Katha: Tales Of This Telugu Man , of which three of the tracks are already out.
Merging of two poetries
“The merging of the two very culturally distinct sounds really just worked because of history,” starts Alluri. “When the British colonised India, they heard the language Telugu and called it the ‘Italian of the east’ because of the phonetics… all words end with a vowel sound. Telugu, and anyone who’s heard the language will agree with me on this, sounds incredibly poetic, just like Italian.”
Roberto, who plays bass, says, “It’s not my first time in Hyderabad so I know the crowd here is very open and that keeps musicians really trying new stuff because if it’s going to be appreciated, why not?” He elaborates that playing in a band also makes him aware of the surrounding sound and that’s what makes him push his own envelope.
“I find myself actually learning more about the music world itself,” chimes in trumpeter Paolo Raineri, “and that’s what keeps me upping my game.”
Pietro on the keyboard adds that he was using sounds that were different to his repertoire and he’s loved the process through and through, “I was used to a certain set of sounds, you see. With Western music, that’s what happens. But I observed that keyboardists here use different scales and tempo and such, so adapting to that was truly satisfying. No feeling like it!”
So what are the guys looking forward to the most? For Davide and Paolo, there’s always the hype of the crowd and, of course, exploring the city, commenting, “Italy has been sweltering, so this is an amazing break away from that!”
For Alluri, he’s mostly looking forward to having flutist Ranga and tabla-player Murli on board, “We haven’t added these elements yet so we are actually jittery with the excitement of elevating the sound profile.”
Listening to the rehearsals, I can only say the thousand-strong crowd at Gachibowli Indoor Stadium will be utterly pleased and on their feet. So keep those phone torch-lights in the air as Alluri and The Italians make your weekend worth it.
