It’s April. Let the fishes loose.

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The thing I’ve missed most about L.A. since I left is the live music (and my barber). Seriously, there is no better place to get an introduction to new sounds. I’m especially kicking myself because I didn’t get to see two bands that I really wanted to see live. The first was Goldspot. The second one was Rupa and the April Fishes. An Indian girl that sings in fluent Spanish and French and can stop you from bleeding out if you’ve been shot? That is absolutely hot enough to fry fishes!

As a doctor by day and a singer by night, third-year UCSF internal medicine resident Rupa Marya, MD, is living her dream…

Marya, 30, is an Indian woman who grew up in the Bay Area, France and India. She has known that she’s wanted to be both a physician and a performer since childhood, and has found ways to achieve balance while pursuing both passions.

“My kindergarten teacher asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, and I said, ‘a surgeon and a ballerina.’ She said I had to choose one. But I couldn’t choose, and now I find I’m a better doctor when I’m an artist and I’m a better artist when I’m a doctor. The passion for both comes from the same source,” says Marya… Previously part of an American folk duo, Marya has gone back to her multicultural roots, tapping into several cultural genres and singing most of the songs in French. “What is created is a living music and lively performance which gives voice to the fluidity of experience moving between different places, a sonic examination of being at the edge of different cultural identities,” according to her website.

The six band members bring together an eclectic assortment of music traditions — mixing French chanson with Gypsy waltzes, Indian ragas, sultry tangos and bossa nova — to create a romantic and lyrical sound reminiscent of bohemian Paris. [Link]

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p>The group’s sound has a Devotchka-esque eclectic-ness to it. Enough talk! Bring out the music:

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p>* une américaine à paris

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p>* c’est moi

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p>* wishful thinking

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p>Their MySpace page has even more music. I especially like the song “Poder.” While I am listening to it I imagine myself kicking ass and taking names in a shady Mexican bar, like Antonio Banderas in the movie Desperado. And then Rupa could come along and heal them all because…ummm…she’s a singing doctor. Okay, maybe that was too much info to put out there.

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p> The other thing I like about their website is that it has some really cool artwork. Check out the piece at the bottom of this page. And let’s not forget the fishes:

ed “master” baskerville: cello

aaron “rhone” kierbel: percussion, fish

marcus “the tone” cohen: trumpet

isabel “iz” douglass: accordion

eliyahu sills: upright bass

rupa: watery songs, voice, guitar

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p>Rupa is on tour with her band this spring but you have to live between San Francisco and Tijuana to catch a show. Oh, did I mention that her tour, titled “Por la Frontera,” is trying to raise awareness about immigrant rights issues? Via Los Anjalis:

This tour was inspired by several patients i met working at sf general, immigrants who came to health care too late in their disease process for fear of being deported. it struck me as messed up that a policy could alienate someone from their own sense of health so much that they would not seek help when they knew they needed it.

Please. Go bring me some fishes already.

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45 thoughts on “It’s April. Let the fishes loose.”

  1. Abhi this is great! Thanks for the tip; I’ve never heard of Rupa and would normally say that I feel pretty “in the loop” with the Bay music scene. Her music is so fun.

  3. Guess I’ll have to settle for being the second coolest Rupa in the world 😀 I keed, I keed! But seriously… being a resident AND having your own band — that’s pretty badass. She wins the award for time-management.

  4. yeah.. this is a little too french for me and not enough mainstream american culture..

  5. Rupa is just another proof of my pet theory: Some people. Are better. Than other people.

    Kidding! Good luck to her (grumble, grumble, feeling jealous…..)

  7. Oh no, scary thought. Is this another crazy bench-mark for desi parents to torture their children with? Rupa, you know, has an MD and an album…make sure to do your guitar homework after your biology homework…..

  8. that benchmark comment reminds me of Anand from anandtech.com

    dude has a multimillion dollar web site and is becoming a doctor too..

  9. dude has a multimillion dollar web site and is becoming a doctor too..

    Hmmmmmm… I wonder what I will do on the side if this becomes a multimillion dollar website.

  10. Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!! Kurma invited me to go see Rupa and the April Fishes when they were here in SB a few weeks ago, and I could have totally gone, but it was finals week! Of course, as I should have expected, it’s not like I ended working on my paper that night anyway… and Kurma said they were great 🙁 sigh

    But anyway, this Rupa chick sounds so friggin’ rad.

  12. Err.. maybe he’s not a doctor… he’s a computer engineer, which makes sense..

    hmmm… someone told me he was a doctor once, maybe they meant PHD kind of doctor !

  14. It’s good music, and the French songs are slow enough for me to follow along 🙂 And I like the fact that their website has English translations as well. Thanks Abhi.

  15. Oh no, scary thought. Is this another crazy bench-mark for desi parents to torture their children with? Rupa, you know, has an MD and an album…make sure to do your guitar homework after your biology homework…..

    Ha! Ha ha ha 🙂 MD you are totally cracking me up today. I’m sure the last thing this gal wants is to be held up as the model desi prototype. (Although, if I did want to emulate myself after someone, it’d probably be her.)

  16. “O.K. you can play the guitar, but only if you also go to medical school. That’s the deal ok amma.”

    Abhi I think you’ve found your muse. What are Evil Abhi’s musical tastes like and what if Evil Abhi met Evil ANNA?

  17. There’s an evil Anna?

    Rupa and the April Fishes sound really good. I recently heard a 2 minute clip from a live show and that was really nice; these recordings are good too.

  18. damn this girl is living my dream.. i think she graduated from her med school with a friend of mine and extended her residency to pursue her music (since the dates didn’t add up in my brain)… kudos to her… and ucsf for IM is an impressive residency… double kudos..

    doctor, rockstar, whats next?…

    i bow down.

    and hella glad i’m moving back to california…

  19. Great, just what the world need’s, a hippie doctor!

    Patient: I think my liver is broken.

    Doc. Rupa: Did you try chilling out?

    Patient: No, it’s kind of hard to do that when your eye’s are yellower then the sun

    Doc. Rupa: Try beating on these bongos for an hour and then if the spirt of love doesnt cure you then I’ll get you high!

    Patient: High? As in higher on a liver donation list?

    Doc. Rupa: No! High as in, you will smoke the holy plant and be high.

    Patient: Im not paying for this vist!

    Doc. Rupa: It’s all good.

    Yet another person I must make fun of because I am jealous of them.

  20. I just watched that 2nd video posted above and how dumb would you feel if your on stage with your band and the 2 people standing next to you are playing guitar’s and your main instrument is tapping a hollow box that you are also using as a seat?

    I wonder if anyone has ever come up to him and was like, “Dude, that box tapping was epic! Where you learn how to play like that?”

  21. I just watched that 2nd video posted above and how dumb would you feel if your on stage with your band and the 2 people standing next to you are playing guitar’s and your main instrument is tapping a hollow box that you are also using as a seat?

    I wonder if anyone has ever come up to him and was like, “Dude, that box tapping was epic! Where you learn how to play like that?”

    I believe it’s called a cajon box drum and it’s a latin instrument. Occasionally, subtle is better.

  23. coach diesel:

    I believe it’s called a cajon box drum and it’s a latin instrument. Occasionally, subtle is better.

    HAHAHA! I fuc#king knew that would back fire on me, however I disagree on the “subtle is better” part.

    On stage your supposed to be something great something spectacular and somebody playing a instrument that look’s like nothing is lame. No one ever look’s at the guy playing the tambourine or cowbell in ahha. The tambourine guy never get’s laid, he just watches.

    Also is it called a “cajon” because you play it well placing your cajones on it or am I completly off on the connection?

  25. Reminds me of a famous Urdu couplet: Agar Roopa ki Agar Roopa ki baniyaan pahane tho tho, thoooooooo, Roopa kya pahanegi?

  26. think she’ll swing into austin, abhi?
    If we project really good vibes her way!

    Hmmm – but then can we get her to Houston, after that?

  27. Oh, like I needed more cool music to get into. And especially to read a great tip like this before I’m sufficiently caffeinated to say no.

    I ordered the two CDs over at CDBaby. Grrr!

    Seriously, thanks for the tip.

  29. I simply adore Wishful Thinking. How does she accomplish triste and piratey at the same time? Beautiful.

  30. Holy shit this is amazing music. She has a lovely voice. Thanx for hooking us up with this Abhi. I probably wouldn’t have learnt about this soon enough.

  33. You can download the eXtraOrdinary Rendition album from iTunes, which I just did. It is just amazing – thanks for the hook-up yo!

  34. this is AMAZING. i love spanish music and the fact that shes an MD on the side is also interesting. too bad i dont live in cali 🙁

  37. oooo – new music for my ears! she’s got a great sound. thanks, abhi. too bad i can’t make her hotel cafe show. damn finals get in the way of everything!

  39. ahh I just bought the CD from itunes after previewing the music above and its amazing! thanks for recommending i

  45. nerina’s sound seems kind of overdone. what is she doing that hasn’t been done before?