An expectant audience was treated to a dash of world music when Shenkar (aka L. Shankar), Mike Albert and the violin sisters M. Lalitha and M. Nandini took the stage for the inaugural performance of The Hindu Friday Review ‘November Fest’ 2014. Beginning with a piece that combined part of his score from Martin Scorcese’s The Last Temptation Of Christ and one of his own compositions, ‘La Danse Du Bonheur’ from the Shakti album A Handful of Beauty , Shenkar gave the audience a short and subtle taste of what his legendary double violin is capable of.
Alternating between the two fingerboards to produce lingering high-pitched notes and low drones that gave the music a sense of epic scale, he led the transition to brief solos by Lalitha and Nandini, with Mike Albert, who had largely stayed in the background until then, unleashing the fury of his guitar, with a couple of heavy riffs to set the tone for the performance.
Moving onto the latter half, the musicians travelled through a heavier Western soundscape, recreating ‘Paper Nut’, part of Shenkar’s collaboration with Norwegian saxophone player Jan Garbarek and a version of the Volcano jam that he did with Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo before the violinist got into vocals with ‘Mind Over Matter’, a song inspired by his mother telling him that nothing was out of his grasp. Drummer Maynard Grant had a larger part in these pieces, with Albert coming in and pumping up the rhythm with some deft fingering and loud riffs that he skilfully let hang in the air, much to the audiences’ delight.
The music, thus far, flowing between them in small bursts, with Shenkar leading, slowly built into a rhythm with a version of ‘Little Stinker’ from his own, Frank Zappa produced album, Touch Me There . The tempo slowly built into their final piece ‘Sun And Moon’, a performance based on Shenkar’s own raga Savithri, which distilled the essence of the performance with a classical sounding intro, finally leading into all the musicians joining into a nice rhythm. Shenkar’s versatile double violin showed the range it had promised in flashes throughout the show, and Lalitha and Nandini came into their own, making one wish they were at the forefront more often.
At the end of it all, it was a performance that was pleasing, if short on standout moments. Shenkar’s double violin strung the items together with understated class and Lalitha and Nandini displayed perfect coordination when called upon. Maynard and the supporting musicians, Prashant on the keyboard, Manikantan on the thavil and Anbu on creative percussion, were a near constant presence upon which the sound of the violins floated.
Harmonious blend
Simon Thacker’s musical experiments are joyously unconventional. When the cello, the tabla and the classical guitar merge with Baul and folk singing, the resulting music resonates well beyond the performance space. Thacker’s ‘Svara-Kanti’ is the quartet he founded to create new sounds and genres through extending the traditions of Indian and Western music.
Unlike fusing several genres, what Thacker and his team have done is create their own musical tradition. Simon warns, at the beginning of the show, that some of the Indian influences have been represented in an “unIndian” way.
The opening piece, titled ‘Shooting Star’, explored the marriage of Carnatic (in raag Bhairav) with Flamenco and jazz harmony. Says Thacker: “There is no such thing as pure music. Music has always been influenced by different cultures and nationalities. Flamenco, they say, originated from the music of the gypsies who came from Rajasthan.”
Japjit Kaur’s vocals brought alive the rich folk tradition of India, but radically reworked. The Bhojpuri love song she sang was backed by the cello and the guitar. Thacker’s solo performance, titled ‘Enchanted Forest’, was inspired by a strain he heard from the 1980’s Tamil film Arasiyal . He used the digital playing technique that creates denser textures in a classical guitar. “The classical nylon string guitar,” Thacker says, “is such a remarkably unIndian instrument and the limitations it imposes on the musician when playing Indian raga –based compositions are many.”
‘Swaranjali’, a guitar and tabla piece, is Svara-kanti’s claim to fame, played well to an appreciative audience. Thacker’s inclusion of a Gallic love song played brilliantly by Polish cellist Justyna Jablonska created a landscape of a Scottish countryside with music.
The highlight of the ensemble, however, was a bit of Baul singing by Raju Das Baul, whom Thacker fortuitously met at Santiniketan, Kolkata. Raju’s soulful voice with the khamak (instrument) and his slow twirls elicited quick appreciation from the audience.
Sarvar Sabri on the tabla kept rhythm through out the performance, his expertise evident from the effortless transitions between taals .
Scaling heights
New wave Korean music group Noreum Machi premiered at the music fest with an hour-long performance called ‘K- Wind’. Expectations were high from their maiden performance and they more than matched it. A rendition of synchronised high-energy percussion, horn tunes and precise body movements, the ensemble was as much a visual delight as an aural one. The main aim of the group is to render traditional music in contemporary style.
Using traditional instruments called Jang Gu, Jing, Khwaenggwari, Taepyungso and Piri, each representing different elements of nature like rain, thunder storm, wind, sounds of earth and of heaven, they lifted and opened inherent, native sounds to a wider scale that listeners could identify with.
Their opening piece – ‘Gil Sori’ – had players march on to the stage dressed in dazzling white with striking festooned headgear. ‘Binari’, which followed, was a prayer song to drive away misfortune. In ‘Pan- Gut’ the players wore a traditional hat, Sangmo, with ribbons that swayed in unison creating patterns.
As the audience and players warmed up, the music increased in tempo. The next piece, a drum symphony, similar to the triple Thayambaka, was a controlled rendition of beats that began from slow to fast to furious, moving back and forth in strength and escalation.
An instrument that caused curiosity was the bamboo Oboe, which produced deep, soulful sounds. A short solo on the instrument was performed.
The ‘K-Trap’ (Korean Traditional Rap) was an interesting piece with musicians mimicking sounds of the four instruments, an amazing work of vocal calisthenics. It had the audience going and was the high point because of heightened interaction. The final piece called ‘Freedom’ had all the instruments in play - three different types of drums, two types of gongs, the horn pipes - along with vocals and dance.
It was all about perfect rhythm and beat and the audience requested for an encore. The group performed another delightful, shorter piece on request. K-Wind is a fresh breath of music, ancient, primitive in genesis and modern, contemporary in evolution and style.
Web: >www.thehindu.com/novemberfest
Tickets: >http://thne.ws/novfest-tkts
Facebook: >Friday Review November Fest 2014
Twitter: >@frnovfest
