The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Musicians raise the bar

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Sunday, Dec 21, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Musicians raise the bar

Staff Reporter

— Photo: K. Murali Kumar

In harmony: Musicians giving a performance at the Chowdiah Memorial Hall in Bangalore on Saturday.

Bangalore: No one at Chowdiah Memorial Hall on Saturday evening could have denied that they went back home feeling just a little elevated. Eight talented musicians produced two hours of harmonious music.

Kensri School International School’s Healing and Leadership Conclave came to an end as the Mani family from Bangalore — T.A.S Mani, Rama Mani and Karthik Mani — along with pianist Mike Herting from Germany, violinist Zoltan Lantos from Budapest; Scott Stroman from England on vocals, Ronan Guilfoyle on the acoustic guitar; drummer Ramesh Shotham from Germany and Aly Keita from the Ivory Coast on the balafon (a West African musical instrument), came together.

Each piece was a layered, complex arrangement, and the musicians pulled it off effortlessly. With Shotham and the younger Mani swapping the “ghatam” and the drums, to Lantos’s classical ease, there wasn’t a dull moment.

Most of the songs were written by Ms. Mani, and the members of this ensemble, which has played in smaller combinations across the world, had a feel for each other’s music. Keita’s self-made balafon, put out some cheery solos, and even though mridangam veteran T.A.S. Mani tried to steer clear of the ‘solo spotlight’, he kept the show together.

The tune “Guru”, composed by Herting, was created to inspire teachers. It was a complex tune, scintillating between tempos.

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