High notes from Down Under

Guitar duo Slava and Leonard Grigoryan from Australia enthralled the audience in a concert at the Taj Coromandel. DIVYA KUMAR caught up with the brothers

June 30, 2010 05:12 pm | Updated November 18, 2016 01:19 pm IST

SHOWCASING DIFFERENT STYLES:  Leonard and Slava Grigoryan  Photo: R. Ravindran

SHOWCASING DIFFERENT STYLES: Leonard and Slava Grigoryan Photo: R. Ravindran

Brothers Slava and Leonard Grigoryan hardly spent time together growing up. Slava, older by nine years, left for London when he was just 18 to make his mark as a solo guitarist, and Leonard stayed behind in Australia, practising hard so he could one day play with his big brother.

That day came a few years later when Slava returned home and found that his brother, then 14, had turned into a ‘fantastic musician'. “At the same time, I'd gotten quite tired of always being on the road by myself. Being a solo guitarist is a lonely existence,” says Slava. “We started developing a repertoire for both of us, and we've never really looked back.”

Carving a niche

In the eight years since, the Grigoryan Brothers, the finest guitar duo in Australia, have toured across the world, from Russia to Japan, Austria to South Africa, to universal acclaim. Along the way, they've more than made up for the years spent apart. “We're kind of discovering each other now without all the baggage other siblings carry with them,” says Slava. “We're brothers, of course, but we feel more like friends,” says Leonard.

Playing together has opened up a whole new world to them musically. “We arrange a lot of music, commission a lot of composers to write for us — the solo guitar repertoire, in comparison, is much more traditional,” says Slava. “What you can do as a soloist is more limited as well. When you add a guitar, the range and the possibilities are endless,” says Leonard.

That range is mind-boggling. Trained in the Western classical style by their father (both parents are violinists), the brothers were encouraged to explore a variety of influences early on, whether it was contemporary jazz, flamenco, rock or Indian fusion. “One of the very first concerts we were taken to — I was 12 and Len must have been three! — featured John McLaughlin, Kai Eckhardt and Trilok Gurtu,” recalls Slava. “And my first band in school played Jimi Hendrix.”

Today, their music is such an eclectic mix of styles — classical, jazz, Latin guitar and more — that the brothers don't even try to categorise it.And they revel in its international flavour.

They've done an album on French Impressionistic music, are planning one on Russian piano music, and every now and again, team up with another pair of musical siblings from Egypt (who play the Oud and the Req) to perform as the ‘Band of Brothers.'

When they're not travelling around the world or extensively touring across Australia (their last tour had 45 concerts), Slava and Leonard are… well, they're hanging out with each other. “We have the same non-musical interests; we play golf together, we love food and wine and cooking…” says Slava. “So even when we're not playing, we end up seeing each other several times a week,” says Leonard.

“And after all these years, we're not sick of each other at all!” says Slava, laughing.A standing ovation and two encores later, the packed audience at the Taj Coromandel Ballroom were still loath to let the Grigoryan Brothers leave the stage. That's the sort of impact the guitar duo had in their first-ever performance in the city.

Rich Repertoire

The music was gorgeous right from the get-go. They opened the concert with the incredibly soulful ‘Distance' from their 2009 album of the same name, a melodic piece (full of delicate strumming and harmonies) that defied categorisation. This was followed by two movements from the more traditionally classical ‘Suite Bergmasque' by the French composer Debussy (adapted for guitar by their father) – first the lively, playful “Minuet”, and then the sweetly evocative “Clair de lune”. The variety in their repertoire was on ample display as they performed two whimsical and quirky contemporary compositions by Ralph Towner, and then the infectious and high-energy ‘Jongo' by Brazilian composer Paolo Bellinati. Their synchronisation was impeccable even in the most frenetic interludes, and when they stopped to beat out a complex rhythm on their guitars during ‘Jongo', it was, of course, to perfect time. By the time they played their own version of the Beatles classic ‘Blackbird', it was no longer a surprise that so many unique flourishes and variations were added; the original seemed almost staid in comparison. Really, can you blame the crowd for bringing them back not once, but twice?

( The event was organised by the Australian High Commission, New Delhi, in association with Taj Coromandel and The Hindu.)

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