Skirting the outrageous
Most of DRB's compositions were avant-garde but they weren't really all weird. — Photo: S.R. Ragunathan
THE OPENING announcement said: "Fasten your seat belts. This concert is not for the faint-hearted," while the brochure handed out at Ambedkar Bhavan on January 29 said the music of Der Rote Bereich (DRB) brazenly skirts the outrageous. We were warned!
Then, at the end, Frank Moebus, the electric guitarist and leader, suggested we could buy their CD as a gift for someone we dislike. But by now they (Moebus, Rudi Mahall on bass clarinet, and Oliver Bernd Steidle on drums) had shot their bolt and already proved that their bark was worse than their bite.
Speaking of shooting, one can only say Moebus shot himself in the foot with one of the more outré things he did. He was constantly fiddling with some gizmos on the floor and switched on some kind of electronic tone — or drone — generator throughout the second number. "Berlin". The drone successfully drowned out his guitar but couldn't smother the more vigorous sounds of Mahall and Steidle.
Apart from that, DRB deployed no genuinely weird sound production techniques to make good their threat. But Mahall's occasional persistent repetition of one note, at either the top or the bottom end of his instrument's range, did strike a friend, unfamiliar with the use of this idea in more conventional jazz, as passing comprehension.
Avant-garde most of DRB's compositions certainly were, but much modern jazz occasionally uses the 12-tone or chromatic scale without sounding weird. Of course, DRB do try to provoke the listener by taking a phrase using just four of the twelve notes, and repeating it incessantly, for most of their themes. It can sound a bit strange, but the listener comes down to familiar ground when the solo improvisations start, for most of them are very conventional, sounding pleasant and played with a fluency that one doesn't expect in "outrageous" music. Indeed, the improvisations were tame to the point of being mildly disappointing because they were much shorter and less developed than what one expects in mainstream jazz.
Of the 12 pieces DRB played, in fact, a couple had no solos to speak of but largely consisted of repeating the limited theme for a few minutes. A few others stood out for their meaty solos and catchy themes. "Beans with Squid" is based on an appealing Portuguese tune. "A Day in the Lifetime of the Young Ell", meant to depict a two-year-old child's world, had interesting changes of pace and solos by all three musicians. "Candy Bars on the Run" and the last number, "Dadadup", too carried the audience with their lively rhythm and solos.
As musicians all three were good. Steidle's drumming was soft, making good use of the cymbals and occasionally brushes. Moebus audibly deployed his gizmos just the once and otherwise his guitar work was clean and distortion-free. Mahall too was accomplished in the conventional sense on the bass clarinet.
Moebus enlivened the music with interesting remarks about the titles of the pieces, and the closing speech with its unusual plug for their CD was witty. As at least a couple of my friends said: "I like their attitude."
Food for thought.
JAZZEBEL
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