KARACHI: First things first: imagine one of the largest auditoriums in the city bursting at the seams with people wanting to listen to music. What kind of music? Answer: jazz. Yes, jazz. Isn’t it a trifle unusual?

On Thursday night at the Arts Council, it felt as if one was at a local pop star’s concert because music lovers had packed the hall as soon as the gates were opened for them; actually, they were there to listen to Wolfgang Haffner and the Band, the jazz quartet from Germany. Mind you, Haffner is an internationally renowned artist who is no stranger to Pakistan. He had visited the country a little over a decade ago.

The reason the audience was eager to be at the venue was simple: the visiting artists are brilliant at what they do. Haffner (drums), Ferdinand Kirner (guitar), Simon Oslender (piano) and Christian Diener (bass) are top-notch musicians. Both their individual brilliance and their musical arrangements as a group were on song, literally and figuratively, on Thursday. And there would hardly be any soul who did not enjoy it.

Jazz quartet from Germany enthrals music lovers

Before formally introducing his band members and the compositions they were going to play, Haffner and his fellow artists gave a bit of a display of their talent by playing some traditional jazz(y) tunes tinged with contemporary beat patterns and melody structures. The audience was sold then and there. Some of them were giving generous rounds of applause during the performance.

Here’s a piece of advice for them: while it’s not out of the ordinary to clap in between a musical act even in the West, it does not commensurate with the culture of music that’s played according to notation. Pakistani music buffs (no matter what stratum of society they belong to) need to understand that. The clapping and whistling disturbs artists’ concentration.

After 15 minutes or so of play, Haffner formally introduced the band and told the audience that they’re now going to play from their latest album Kind of Spain. It is evident from the title of the album that the jazz would have a bit of a Mediterranean flavour to it. Well, a bit is right, but that bit was felt when guitarist Kirner in one of the tracks used a pedal that created Middle Eastern melodic grooves.

The first of the three tracks that the talented band played was called ‘Three notes to tell you that I love you’ (its original Spanish title was difficult to decode) followed by ‘Pasodoble’ and ending with the Chick Corea composition ‘Spain’. My word, it was some experience to listen to those tracks.

Published in Dawn, October 20th, 2018