Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | Friday Review | Cinema Plus | Young World | Property Plus | Quest | Folio |

PHOTO: SAMPATH KUMAR G.P.

MUSICAL MAGIC The music was at once dramatic, sustained and serious with a consistent flow

Featuring the lively Dresch Quartet and animated pianists George Vukan and Bela Szakcsi Lakatos, you got to listen to some distinct jazz music that had touches of mainstream jazz from both the early and later days.

Mihaly Dresch was a prodigy – the tenor-sax player, flautist and clarinettist rhythmically moved deftly between the three instruments – displaying adroit talent of the wind instruments. His band which comprised the young bassist Matyas Szandai, drummer Istvan Balo and pianist Miklos Lukacs gave the audience an opportunity to listen to some fine ethno-jazz music.

Dresch Quartet’s music was magical, soulful and folksy, with the drummer and bassist lending more conventional jazz sounds.

Upbeat band energy and catchy vibes marked the performance which was witness to unique musical improvisations.

The second composition which started off as soul jazz – something that you are most likely to catch in hotel lobbies, moved on to very Indianised fusion sounds, transforming the atmosphere to a Hindustani classical feel. It was gypsy jazz at its best – a very light tempo – and music that can really travel far as the winds.

Mihaly then picked up the clarinet, rendering a more intense flourish, with beats that oscillated between aggressive and energetic to playful, mellifluous and rounded.

After the gifted Dresch Quartet were two exceptional pianists – George Vukan and Bela Sazakcsi Lakatos – who literally performed ‘musical miracles’. Like two identical twins who always responded to each other’s movements – George and Bela were impressive musicians who exuded extraordinary traits which characterised their music. They walked on stage – both with sunglasses on and fiddled around with the piano keys while standing. Their music was spontaneous and unplanned – signalling remarkable musical genius in timely co-ordination. They tapped their feet on the floor which provided a steady beat to their simultaneous performance.

The music was at once dramatic, sustained and serious with a consistent flow to it. It then adopted a solemn and persistently deep undercurrent to then being more playful and charged.

What was melodious and had everyone humming away to technicolour old-time musicals was their version of “Somewhere over the Rainbow”.

With the last spur-of-the-moment performance, George and Bela were more forceful and impulsive, experimenting with the piano’s treble strings. The two artists displayed a rare originality in musical experimentation.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail