When Anusha Ramasubramoney of Flat Five, a student band of the Swarnabhoomi Academy of Music, opened the World Jazz Evening with a song featuring just scat, it established that the concert would have moments of clarity floating free in an ocean of jazz.
The band, comprising Priyankar Saikia (drums), Amar Tirkey (guitar), the talented Ryunosuke Koike (guitar), Arsh Sood (guitar) and Robin Joseph (bass guitar) lent vocalist Anusha considerable heft, but the music didn’t inspire because of the atonal element of the songs. Flat Five, however, should be lauded for the promise they hold — they performed jazz standards such as Freddie Hubbard’s ‘Povo’ and original compositions such as ‘Soulmate’ with aplomb, articulating the essence and beauty of jazz.
The Museum Theatre next resonated with insights into the genre provided by the Spring faculty of SAM, drawn from across the globe, and bringing with them their own unique interpretations and improvisations. It opened with a Thyagaraja kirti in Bahudari raga sung by Sreyas Narayanun, part of the Carnatic voice faculty. His deep voice soared to the rafters with the piano keeping melody, the guitar strumming the rhythm and the bass giving off a strident hum. Pedro Silva (piano) and Fabio Bergamini (drums), faculty from Brazil, improvised on the raga interlude, while Johann Berby from Reunion Island led the fusion with his guitar riffs and his energetic on-stage persona. Silva’s pianism moved from melody to dissonance with ease, while Bergamini’s deft brush beats lent symphonic weight. An Ilaiyaraaja hit rooted in avant-garde jazz was followed by a pleasant composition of Berby’s, with the guitar rising and falling like a sitar singing a song.
The second segment of the concert featured a change in guitarists with Sid Jacobs of the U.S. guiding the voice of Mili Vizcaino from Spain. Vizcaino, in her fragile and filigreed voice, sang Spanish classics such as ‘Chovendo Na Roseira’ and ‘Passarim’, following it up with ‘Round Midnight’ and ‘Footprints’. Her songs meandered through love and longing, dipping into rhythms that spoke of a gypsy soul. And, Jacob’s fine fretwork ornamented them with dynamic contrasts.
The two-hour concert that concluded with the song ‘Nandri’, the first Tamil word that the international faculty learnt to speak here, was rich in texture and telling despite its abstractions, bringing together sounds that had crossed the boundaries of music.
