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Indian `fusion' creates exciting sounds
In a world where people grapple with the definition of their cultural identities - be it Asians fighting "Westernization" or Europeans resisting "Islamization" - music seems to allow some lucky few to strike a comfortable balance between carrying forward their own national heritage and experimenting with external influences
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n a world where people grapple with the definition of their cultural identities - be it Asians fighting "Westernization" or Europeans resisting "Islamization" - music seems to allow some lucky few to strike a comfortable balance between carrying forward their own national heritage and experimenting with external influences.
Niladri Kumar (on sitar), Vijay Ghate (on tabla or percussion) and a band of young contemporary musicians recently exhibited this very balance of cultures during a captivating performance of contemporary and Indian classical music at Taman Ismail Marzuki in Jakarta.
Organized by the India Club for members and non-members, the event showcased almost three hours of pure Indian classical music, and also a fusion of Indian and Western genres.
"Our aim is to popularize Indian traditional arts and expose people to them," secretary of the India Club, Rakesh Jain, told The Jakarta Post via email.
"This was an experiment by the India Club to have both Indian classical and contemporary music together."
In opening the show, M. K. Singh, director of the Jawaharlal Nehru Indian Cultural Center, described the artists as being of the "best caliber", which upped the anticipation that was already rather palpable among the largely Indian audience.
The first part of the evening, which lasted 45 minutes, was a display of sheer skill from Kumar, 35, and Ghate, 41, on their respective instruments. From a slow, ambient start, the artists progressed to improvising on an evening raga called Jhinjhoti, during which they traded solos and allowed each other's stylistic subtleties to create a harmonious mood.
The improvisational style of the performance was in line with Indian musical tradition, which consists largely of improvising around an array of scales and rhythmic patterns, with the result that each time these scales are approached live, the piece of music assumes a different shape.
With generous string-bending and fast picking, Kumar brought the quietest pitches to life, while Ghate even went so far as to hammer out pitches on his tabla to match Kumar's melodies - a feat that requires immeasurable practice.
As Ghate drove up the tempo, Kumar's fingers raced all over the fret board of the sitar; the two musicians galloped toward an explosive finish to the first half that left no one in doubt of their talent.
Ghate has performed in Indonesia on five previous occasions, but the event was Kumar's second performance here, his first having been in Bali. Both musicians were eager to join the rest of their band to bring their contemporary compositions to the Jakarta audience.
"Performing here is enjoyable," said Kumar, who is the son of renowned Indian sitar maestro, Pandit Kartick Kumar. "The crowd is initiated in the *classical and contemporary* music and receptive to it."
Drummer Gino Banks, bassist Sheldon Dsilva and keyboardist/vocalist Anand Sharma accompanied the classical musicians on stage after the intermission, and launched into the contemporary repertoire with enthusiasm.
Extended solos highlighted the roles of the contemporary instruments in music that straddled several genres, including blues, "new-age" jazz, pop and of course classical Indian music.
Call and response - or jugalbandi as it is known in the Indian musical tradition - between the classical and contemporary instruments drove the musicians' skill to impressive heights, and kept the audience engaged in the sounds of fusion that it created.
The contemporary musicians interacted further with the audience by asking them to clap along and keep time with the percussionists - a task that proved much harder than imagined.
Although a technical glitch prevented Kumar from using his special effects-laden electric sitar, he continued to charm the audience with forays into motifs from Beethoven's F*r Elise, and popular Indian and Western tunes.
The ease and success with which all the artists collaborated with each other pointed to how well versed each was in his musical tradition. Bringing these traditions together had allowed them, and now the audience, to explore and indulge in a blend of many cultures.
"It's good for young artists to get to perform with such big names *as Kumar and Ghate*," Muktesh Pardeshi, political counselor at the Indian Embassy, said of the performance.
"The traditional part of course needs to be played abroad, but the fusion part *is* very exciting."
