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Hot Water at UWMF 2017: This band is what music lovers dream of

 

This is not a band you can just sit down and listen to. Hot Water's music, whether the band asks you to or not, will get you dancing right away.

Udaipur World Music Festival's surprise package on Day 2 was this uber energetic band from South Africa. Their name, they say, has many interpretations, but going by their antics on stage it wouldn't be hyperbolic to say they had the organisers in hot water.

The band's lead Donovan Copley made a sudden exit off the stage just as the band started performing. Soon, he was seen running in from the audience side. Towards the end of the show, this band of five invited audience members to join in just to hop around the stage with them.

A whole bunch of people bouncing off the stage, a makeshift one, sure had the organisers sweating and the crowd cheering.

But energy alone isn't this band's USP. Their official website mentions the wide range of music this multi-cultural band has to offer. Their music has "layers the sounds of traditional mbaqanga, kwela and maskanda with a more contemporary folk-rock vibe and utterly danceable rhythms".

A curious thing about the band's performance was that they opened and closed their act with the song 'Hot Water', something they do at every performance of theirs. On being asked why, accordionist Adriaan Brand told Catch, "You have to trust [the music], and yes, one of the ways of building trust [with the audience] is building an experienced sense of trust. And that sense is to provide structure and a holding space. That you open and close properly."

"You don't leave [the audience] hanging. You provide closure at the end as well," Brand adds.

 
Durga M Sengupta @the_bongrel

Feminist and culturally displaced, Durga tries her best to live up to her overpowering name. She speaks four languages, by default, and has an unhealthy love for cheesy foods. Assistant Editor at Catch, Durga hopes to bring in a focus on gender politics and the role in plays in all our interactions.