The Jazz Utsav-2007, concludes this Sunday night with the performance of Ramamani with the Amit Heri Trio from Bangalore. Speaking before his arrival in New Delhi, Heri explains his kind of music and his interests.

Having worked and played with Ramamani many times before, he says that they bring together Indian music with Jazz. “She is a great musician and a great person,” he asserts, adding, "She is a fantastic Carnatic singer-performer and a pioneer in her work with Western musicians.” Ramamani has in fact worked extensively with famous Jazz musician and saxophonist Charlie Mariano. She adds this previous experience to Heri’s experimental style. Heri is sure of a good time and a good performance in Delhi, after the success of last year’s show.

Heri himself has performed across the world at Jazz festivals in Berlin, London and Paris. A student of the Berkley College of Music in the U.S., he sets Jazz to Indian ragas. But he distances himself from the word “fusion”. He explains, “Fusion is a much abused term. I like to look it more as Indian Jazz. Just as there is African Jazz and Latin Jazz, there is Indian Jazz as well. Jazz always takes to other cultures.”

He further explains that Indian classical music and Jazz are related“emotionally, conceptually and intellectually”. The two disciplines are similar in terms of structure and rhythm. And improvisation is the highlight of both. He says, “The artistry of improvisation, the virtuoso technique and the command over music,” are similar to both.

Heri has previously composed music scores for theatre and film. A landmark was Mahesh Dattani’s Morning Raga, which was shortlisted for the Oscars in the music category. He clarifies, “The media often says it was nominated, but the fact is that it was shortlisted. But that in itself was a complete surprise. When the director (Mahesh Dattani) told me about it I couldn’t believe it!”

To him the role of music in a movie is to provide that which is not visually present. An affinity with the storyline also helped him to achieve just the right note. But music scores for movies is not Heri’s first love, he asserts. “If they come to me, I might do it. But I will not run after them.”

After his first album “Amit Heri Group”, he is now working on the next. Unwilling to divulge too many details he says, “It has to do with taking Indian music into a new language. To reveal just a bit, I record the voices of people from all over India.”

NANDINI NAIR

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