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This collaboration showed how the heartbeat of one classical form can become a core around which the melody of another classical tradition can flow

Weaving melodyRajeswari Sainath (bottom right) blends her dance to the fusion music created by Sruti Laya and Australian Art Orchestra musicians.

For the third time in the past few years, Hyderabadis were treated to a musical blend with a difference. Four mainline classical Carnatic musicians ‘jamming’ with seven Australian jazz musicians to create energetic yet soulful variations of themes both traditional and modern.

The heat of the summer evening may have discouraged some aficionados but those who did attend “Oceanic Dreams” a fusion concert presented by Chaitanya Art Theatres at Lalitha Kala Thoranam on May 28, were well rewarded.

The 17-year collaboration between mridangam maestro Guru Kaaraikudi R. Mani’s ensemble Sruti Laya and the Australian Art Orchestra led by Adrian Shroff has resulted in some interesting arrangements of percussion and wind instruments, as well as some unorthodox combinations of melody and rhythm.

While known for his purist style and his mastery of laya, Guru Kaaraikudi Mani has also over the years built up a reputation for innovative treatment of traditional forms.

This collaboration has allowed him to show how the heartbeat of one classical form can become a core around which the melody of another classical tradition can flow.

The first full-length public concert by the collaborators, “Into the Fire” was showcased at the Melbourne Jazz Festival to critical acclaim. Oceanic Dreams represents an extension of this set of compositions.

Even to those familiar with the fusion jazz of Shakti and others in a similar tradition, Oceanic Dreams may have sounded distinctly different, perhaps because of its anchoring in classical Carnatic structure, at one level, and the freedom with which the western wind instruments expressed their tones.

Beginning with an ode to the city of Charminar, the group wound its way through more than half a dozen pieces, scored and arranged by different members of the group.

Dominating the concert of course was the mridangam, occasionally taken over by the trumpet or the saxophone in some pieces. “Kamadhenu”, composed by saxophonist Sandy Evans, was a freewheeling piece that alternated paragraphs of pure percussion with bursts of energy from the sax and clarinet (handled by Lachlan) and the melodious overtones of the mandolin played by U. P. Raju. Other pieces, including “Creeper” by Alistair Spence on the keyboard and a composition in bhajan style allowed for some remarkable conversational interludes between the ghatam played by V. Suresh and double bass played by Philip Rex. Balasai’s melodious flute deserves mention, though at times it was rather overshadowed in volume by the trumpet (played by Scott Tinkler) and trombone (played by Adrian Shroff). Niko Schauble on the drums provided a fitting accompaniment to the Indian percussionists, at times reinterpreting their rhythms with felicity on his instrument.

The centerpiece of the concert was the eponymous “Oceanic Dream” brought into force all eleven instruments and included a ‘thani-avarthanam’ by Kaaraikudi Mani, followed by a solo by Suresh on the ghatam, rounded off with the double bass and drums.

This piece also featured an experimental dance composition by Rajeswari Sainath in Bharatanatyam style, an interpretive piece that attempted to express the mood of the music through dance, and superimpose a narrative structure. The juxtaposition of the aesthetics of classical dance and experimental music certainly offers a challenge, and Rajeswari is certainly not afraid to explore this challenge and in the process perhaps create a new aesthetic.

The concluding piece of the evening, Vande Maataram rendered in bhajan style, soothed and calmed while the earlier pieces had energised, and perhaps intrigued.

While this was fusion only in the sense of bringing together instruments from the two different traditions, it served to underline the harmony that these particular musicians have achieved in playing together. The experience of a concert, however, is also framed by the paraphernalia of the stage—from the dancing lights to the announcements and the felicitations—which in our country tend to go on tediously long.

The compere would have done well to get her pronunciation vetted and her introductions edited, while those who handled the lighting effects could perhaps have avoided the kitschy patterns that danced above the heads of the musicians.

These only served to distract from the music, which could have been enjoyed in and of itself, without such framing.

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