Confluence of styles
SAVITHA GAUTAM
|
A seasoned Carnatic trio and a jazz quarter that includes the influential voice of Rudresh Mahanthappa join hands for ‘Kinsmen,’ a chartbusting CD.
|
Music and more: Rudresh Mahanthappa.
Who is Rudresh Mahanthappa? Well, he’s an Indian American born in Italy; he’s Guggenheim and New York Foundation for the Arts Fellow; he loves art and sculpture and enjoys reading all kinds of books. But more famously, he’s a jazz saxophonist and composer, and is ranked among the top 10 jazz musicians in the U.S. today, having worked with eclectic musicians, be they from Iraq or Pakistan.
What makes his music relevant to Indians is an album titled ‘Kinsmen’, where Rudresh has collaborated with Carnatic vidwans, Kadri Gopalnath and Kanyakumari. Here, a jazz quarter meets a Carnatic trio in a glorious confluence of musical styles, which grows on you on repeated listening.
‘Kinsmen’ was named one of the Top Jazz CDs of 2008 by The New York Times and BBC, besides topping the jazz radio charts in the U.S. and Canada. The New York-based Rudresh, equipped with a Masters of Music degree from Chicago’s DePaul University, is regarded as an influential voice in the jazz world today.
Excerpts from an interview:
On his Indian roots…
My parents are from Bangalore. My father came to the U.S. to do his Ph.D. at Harvard in the 1950s. Every seven years or so, he takes a sabbatical to conduct research at other institutions. I was born on one of these trips in Trieste, Italy, in 1971.
His first brush with jazz…
In elementary school, everyone had to play the recorder in our music class. I was taken by the saxophone, so my parents found me a private tutor. When I was nine, we were allowed to choose an actual band instrument. My older brother recommended I take up the saxophone. I had a really great teacher who introduced me to different kinds of music including jazz. I first gravitated towards the instrumental soul/R&B artists such as Grover Washington Jr. and David Sanborn. When I first hear Charlie Parker, I was hooked!
Exposure to Indian classical music…
Growing up, most of the Indian music I heard at home were bhajans. My parents also had a few Ravi Shankar and M. S. Subbulakshmi LPs that I checked out. I have had no formal training. I have studied Indian classical in much the same way I have studied jazz. Learning the concepts and intricacies myself by listening, reading and transcribing…
On collaborating with Kadri Gopalnath and Kanyakumari…
I first heard Kadri when I was in college. At the time, I never dreamt we would work together someday. In 2002, I went backstage at one of his concerts (in Boston) to give him one of my CDs, Black Water. He was taken up with the fact that an Indian-American jazz saxophonist even existed! After hearing the album, he was keen on doing something together. Kanyakumari has always been Kadri’s ‘right-hand.’ So including her was a given. Guitarist Rez Abbasi (Pakistani origin) and percussionist Dan Weiss complete the band.
‘Kinsmen’ as a new direction in your music…
Conceptually, I have utilised many facets of Indian music in my compositional work for the past 15 years though much of it has occurred within ensembles of western instrumentation. It’s important to note that none of my work with ‘traditional’ jazz instrumentation is ever spoken of as being of a straightforward jazz classification. The music is considered cutting edge. Having said that, yes, ‘Kinsmen’ is a departure as it is a more blatant synthesis of western and Carnatic musical ideas and techniques. To me, all of this music is an expression of the Indian-American identity, regardless of instrumentation.
Different idioms, one melodic sound…
The biggest challenge of composing for this group was to make sure everyone was comfortable in expressing themselves while still being challenged by the environment. I really wanted to everyone to push themselves to engage with this non-traditional setting. In a way, finding the right musicians was just as important as the composition itself. There are plenty of times where I’m relying on the intuition of the musicians at hand to help ‘bridge the gap’ between these two traditions. I was blessed to be surrounded by people who are not only masters of their instruments but also people with forward thinking mindsets, who could see the vision for which I was striving.
Your new album ‘Apti’ with the Indo-Pak Coalition…
‘Apti’ is another project which is close to my heart. I first started a version of this band while living in Chicago in 1996. The preliminary rendition was somewhat of a failure as I didn’t feel that I had the musical knowledge and cultural integrity to make it work. In other words, I felt as if I was putting this music forth only for the sake of doing something that sounded ‘Indian.’
Musicians you admire…
As far as inspiration, it’s Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Bismillah Khan, Parveen Sultana, Michael Brecker, Bela Bartok and Anton Webern. I also love Peter Gabriel, The Beatles, Bob Marley and Johnny Hartman.
Album-release and tour plans in India…
I am in talks with record labels to release my albums in India. Hope something comes out of it. Till then, they can be legally downloaded from www.pirecordings.com. As for coming to India, I’d love that but it’s a question of funding. Hopefully Jazz Utsav in Mumbai and Delhi will happen one of these years…
* * *
