Ever since it was formed in 2014, Trio Benares, the Indo-German music ensemble, has had an amazing journey with the three artistes, Roger Hanschel, Deobrat Mishra and Prashant Mishra creating a new sound. With Roger on the saxophone, Deobrat on the sitar and his nephew Prashant on the tabla, the ensemble has been treating audiences to a fine blend of Indian classical music and Western music. While Roger, based in Cologne, Germany, brings with him the experience of having collaborated with a lot of musicians from the world over, Deobrat and Prashant, are torch-bearers of the Benares gharana.
The trio will perform in the city today, at an event organised by Goethe-Zentrum. In an email interview with The Hindu MetroPlus , Roger, talks about the journey of the ensemble, his tryst with Indian music and his experiments in music.
Working with Trio Benares
We met in the summer of 2013 in Benares and later played at a concert in Cologne. That’s when we decided to form the ensemble. We found that there was perfect match among the sounds of the three instruments. Basically, I communicate with the sensual and brilliant sound of Deobrat’s sitar. In turn, my rhythmical playing finds its equivalent in the virtuosic tabla playing of Prashant Mishra. That’s how the trio works. We will present songs from our CD, Assi Ghat , at today’s concert. Deobrat and I bring our own compositions into the band and then we work together on the arrangement. Since the notations are different we need to play our compositions to each other and learn it by ear. Right now we are working on new songs for our next CD.
You are associated with many ensembles...
Yes... right now I am working in eight different ensembles. For most of them I am composing the music. Since I am working a lot with European classical musicians, for example the Auryn String Quartett, I have to, of course, set up there part so that they just can play it from the sheet. In other ensembles there is the possibility to improvise here and there. The way I play my saxophone differs depending on the ensemble. Its not something technical, rather it is a matter of blending my sound with other instruments. When I play with string quartet, I am the fifth string player. All these aspects come into play when I work in Trio Benares. I can easily relate with the sitar sound-wise or play more rhythmically with the tabla, using a certain technique.
Solo vs. ensemble
I prefer playing in ensembles, but once in a while it is good to play solo concerts because they are necessary to make me responsible for anything that happens on stage at a concert.
Tryst with Indian music
I have been in love with Indian classical music for a long time, especially because I am a fan of Bismillah Khan since the early 80s. While on a tour to India in 1994 with a saxophone quartet, I also had a chance to listen to Hariprasad Chaurasia and Kadri Gopalnath. Since then, Indian classical music is an inseparable part of my music.
Current projects.
Besides my long-term projects I have been working on two new projects. One is a septett with three strings, singer, saxophone, bass and drums. We just released my compositions based on poems by Christina Rossetti. The other one is a saxophone sextet. I and my colleague Steffen Schorn are working with the well-known saxophone quartet in classical western music, the Rascher Saxophone Quartet.
Listen to Trio Benares at Co-bank Auditorium on January 21 at 7 p.m.
