Fusion music, especially by virtuoso musicians teaming up from the East and West can be an electrifying experience. So when Holland's famous Dutch jazz ensemble Spinifex teamed up with veena exponent Suma Sudhindra at the Alliance Francaise de Bangalore, music aficionados were treated to a feast of music.
This unique musical collaboration brought out the best of Carnatic music and Dutch jazz.
Expressive improvisations, and thrilling rhythms were woven together with classy fingerwork on the plethora of instruments by both sets of musicians, along with wonderfully rich compositions.
The evening began with an elegant Suma Sudhindra on the veena, a smiling Anooru Ananthakrishna Sharma on the mridanga and young and versatile Pramath Kiran on the drums. Known and acknowledged in the Bangalore music circuit, the trio were generously applauded after each of their performances.
The five-member Spinifex Orchestra from Netherlands, with Ned McGowan on the flute, Tobias Klein on the saxophone, Joost Buis on the trombone, Dion Nijland on the bass and Uli Genenger on the drumset came on next with some true blue Jazz.
Hailing from Amsterdam, where live jazz flows out of every bistro, on every street, this was their second visit to India according to flautist Ned McGowan.
The two pieces that Spinifiex played, were composed by Tobias Klien and Dion Nijland.
However it was only when the eight musicians came together on stage that the power of their consummate musical technique and artistry left the audience gasping and asking for more.
More so, during each one's solo performance, the dazzling skill of their improvisation and brilliance on their individual instruments was a rare treat for music lovers in the city. Mention must be made of “Papadumming”, a piece composed by trombone player Joost Buis, where he used a mute, which looked like a fancy rubber suction cup, which altered the Sax's natural timbre, to produce a more ‘wah wah' effect.
The event was brought to Bangalore by AIM in association with the Alliance Française de Bangalore, The ICCR, Bangalore and the The Indo-German Cultural Society, Bangalore.
