Saturday Night Live With Agnee

Saturday Night Live With Agnee

Mohan Kanan performs at a concert

In the coming weeks, Pune’s band, Agnee, will perform on MTV Unplugged Season 2. They are gearing up to enthrall the music lovers in the city with their performance this weekend. Ishani Bose gets chatty with Mohan Kanan, the band’s lead vocalist, on the best firsts of his life.

His first raag 

Honestly speaking, I’ve never learned classical music. Whenever people ask me to decipher a raag a particular song is based on, I’m befuddled and have to call my mother to ask her about the same. My musical journey began with learning the Mridangam, so yeah, I’m more of a percussionist.

But, most of us know you as a guitarist. When did you first start playing the guitar?

I first started playing the guitar in 2000-01. It was my 25th birthday, and one of my friends gave me my first Yamaha guitar. Thereafter, I started playing by myself.

First meeting with Kaustubh Dhavale, aka Koko

Oh, I first met Koko by chance in 2003 at a friend’s wedding – the same friend who gifted me the guitar. Koko called me on 14th May 2005, asking me to join the band. I remember that date because the next day, I resigned from Deutsche Bank, where I worked before becoming a part of Agnee. Since then, there has been no turning back.

First stage performance

My first stage performance was when I was seven, in Kolkata, and I was playing the Mridangam. But my first stage performance with Agnee was in 2007, to launch our first album.

First girlfriend

(Laughs)…Well, some secrets are better not revealed, especially when you know your mother may be reading it too.