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A sprinkle of silver

Photo: V. Sreenivas Murthy

Coming full circle Carnatic classical fused with jazz amiably

The recent sudden warming-up of the Bangalore weather was not unwelcome to the audience assembled under an open sky at the UB City Amphitheatre last week to hear Suma Sudhindra's Veena Ensemble together with the Netherlands-based Spinifex Orchestra, in a concert that fused Carnatic music with jazz.

The Veena Ensemble, led by Sudhindra on veena, comprised B.C. Manjunath on mridangam, Pramath Kiran on conga drums and morsing, and Nagara Nagabhushan Udupa on keyboards. Spinifex, whose names I couldn't get when they were called out but most of which I discovered from the Internet, were Ned McGowan on flute, Gijs Levelt on trumpet, Tobias Klein on bass clarinet and alto saxophone, Joost Buis on trombone, Ulf Genenger on drums, and an electric bassist.

The concert opened in traditional Carnatic style with a varnam played only by the Veena Ensemble. Two pieces by Spinifex followed, played as jazz numbers. The first, “Indian Matters”, was composed by the bassist, whose name could have been Dion Nijland (and then again it might not!). It featured a solo by Klein on bass clarinet and a duo interaction interlude between Kiran and Manjunath. On the next, Klein's composition “Montebello”, Klein again featured as the only soloist, on alto saxophone.

Next began the real fusion part of the concert. Sudhindra's composition “Silver Sprinkle” saw all the musicians participating, with solos notably by McGowan on flute and Sudhindra herself on veena. Levelt's “Appa”, which we were told was dedicated to all daddies everywhere, was exciting, peppered with solos by Sudhindra and Levelt followed by a duo exchange between these two. Buis's “Papadaming”, written in honour of his favourite dish the papadam, opened with an alapana by Sudhindra followed by Spinifex playing the theme interspersed with veena phrases. Sudhindra again took a solo, as did Buis on his trombone, using a plunger mute (yes, this is a plumber's plunger used as a mute to introduce a rough texture to the sound of the instrument).

Thus far the Spinifex men had been introducing their soloing skills one by one on successive numbers, each necessarily being somewhat shortish. But on the number that followed, the heart of the concert in keeping with Carnatic traditions, we got to hear all the musicians pitching in, in full flow with solos. “Solitary Splendour”, written by Sudhindra, first had a veena alapana and then an intro by the Spinifex men with flute, trombone, trumpet and alto sax before the main theme was played by the full ensemble (of both groups). Solos were offered in turn by trombone, flute and veena before exchanges between veena, morsing and mridangam. Another veena solo led the way into solos in turn by mridangam and congas, then a konakol (Carnatic vocal percussion) round between Manjunath, Kiran and Genenger and lastly the ensemble reprising the theme.

A brief number called “Nicolausia” came next, featuring an alapana on the veena and the theme played on trumpet, trombone, flute and alto sax.

The concert ended with two classic Carnatic pieces. Introducing them, Sudhindra mentioned that the Spinifex men have been living in Bangalore and working with her and her ensemble, and told us that we would see how well they have absorbed Carnatic music. “Krishna Nee Begane Baro” had an intro – I should perhaps call it an alapana – on the flute before the theme was played on veena and then by the full ensemble, then in turns on trombone, alto sax, trumpet and bass (the first time in the concert the bassist was featured), lastly featuring a trumpet solo.

The closing number again in Carnatic tradition was a thillana in Brindavani composed by M. Balamuralikrishna. It opened with drums and then trombone before the full ensemble played it, leading into solos by bass clarinet, flute and veena.

Although all ten musicians performed ably, special mention must be made of Sudhindra on the one hand and Buis, McGowan, Klein and Levelt on the other. Bangalore's jazz audiences don't often hear trombones, trumpets, saxes and flutes, and to hear four such instruments together was a real treat. And since Indian classical music traditions don't usually extend to so many instruments, the treat certainly extended to their successful foray into Carnatic music. The percussionists too were brilliant, and the only regret I feel I must express is that Udupa had very little to do on the keyboards.

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