Rohan Delgado & Kumari 7

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Now this is where we get to the real Birmingham underground. My stand up comedy career has lately been mostly gigs in the Red Lion pub which is literally just round the corner from where I live. A friend of mine runs these great little events under the banner 'The Great Unsigned' and finds some of the best local talent, He has many great artists on his roster and Rohan and his band are one of the best.

I assure you that I do not exaggerate when I say that Rohan Delagado is one of the best songwriters to come out of Birmingham. Unfortunately he has a limited web presence so if you wish to hear his best songs you will have to see him and the Kumari 7 yourself. Its worth it though.
I first saw Rohan as a solo performer and he blew me and pretty much everyone away. He would play the same songs each time you'd see him but each time they'd be brilliant. his best song is the specials Esque 'Rudy' which appears to be a song about a kid with a lack of education, its a reggae flavored fast paced track with a chorus you can't help but sing along to and a few bits where he goes into freestyle fast rapping, It's great fun and there's always a great atmosphere when talent like this plays your local pub.
He can also tone it down a notch too, one of his songs  is another reggae style jam about Weed, It's kind of what you might expect from a Rastafarian songwriter but its an intelligent well written song, that points out the ironies of it being illiegal. Another song of his is a slow ballard about a broken friendship. It's hard to describe these songs when you've only heard them live but you get the idea.

A few weeks after I'd first seen Rohan as a solo artist he came back with a new band the Kumari 7, which is just a sign of how quickly things change around my local unsigned scene. The Kumari 7 bring a full band sound to his music, they're all very normal looking people of all ages that play a variety of instruments. Rohans songs have now got more melody and a wider palette of sounds, such as the organ player and his new rhythm section.

I must admit that I did prefer Rohan as a solo artist, I mean no disrespect to his band but i felt there was something rawer and a little bit more engaging about his solo performances, but that's only my opinion. These guys are starting to do quite a few gigs on the Birmingham unsigned circuit and It's worth tracking them down.


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www.myspace.com/kumari7
http://thegreatunsigned.weebly.com/artists.html