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The magic of music
The foursome delivered a lazy, nonchalant tune written by Steve and ‘dedicated to all new friends.’ Then Steve opened the following number with staccato drums. Laughing, winking, sneaking mischievous glances at the audience, he looked ‘as adorable as a cartoon mouse,’ as someone put it
lt was on a mild Tuesday evening last week that one ended up at the Karachi Arts Council auditorium amidst a crowd buzzing with anxious energy. Most among these were jazz enthusiasts, including a number of French and German attendants, gathered there to witness an event organised by the Alliance Francaise, the British Council and the Goethe-Institut in collaboration with Sampurna.
Dialogue Through Music, as it has come to be known, was initiated in 2005 as a series of jazz collaborations across the continents. This year, it was an interworking between four artistes from four different countries: German bassist, Deiter Ilg; French-Vietnamese guitar player, Nyugen Le; drummer Steve Arguelles from the UK and Pakistani tabla player, Irfan Hyder.
Naheed Maalik, the communications manager of the British Council Karachi, opened the evening around 30 minutes overtime — hardly an abominable misdemeanour by Pakistani standards — due to genuine reasons: the spectators simply kept on disembarking and settling down in sporadic succession. The round of concise introductions once through, the musicians made their way across the illuminated stage to take their positions.
Le was a pleasant mélange of smiles, shrugs and an undeniable casual air as he picked up his guitar and fiddled unhurriedly with the sound checks. Drummer Steve, on the other hand, defined the animation on stage. Clad in a grey jacket, he settled his slight frame amidst the clutter of drums and tambourines and impishly eyed the audience members as if though he had a juicy little secret to break. Perhaps the most unassuming members within this collaboration were Deiter and Irfan, as they humbly found their positions behind the heavy bass and the assemblage of tablas respectively, and settled down for the action.
The musicians embarked with a gentle tune, a harmonious play upon all the four instruments, with Steve using brush sticks to build up the anticipation. Coordinating amongst themselves by exchanging glances, they gradually built up the flavour, as Le pulled out a series of dreamy, wistful strings for a mesmerising conclusion.
Up next was a bubbly, summery number where Steve switched between tambourines and drums to simulate chiming bells, paving the way for Le to dominate the tune with an oriental, laid-back twang. A series of four renditions followed this performance, introduced in turn by each musician and displaying his forte with a partial solo on the guitar, the drums, the bass and the tablas.
Initiating this was a unique rendition that started off on a solo by Le, as he teased his guitar to draw out an eerie, protracted tune. He was subsequently joined in by the others, each alternately dominating the triad. What resulted was a musical banter, punctuated by and concluded on a surprise chorus of “hey!” that was welcomed by a round of deafening applause from the crowd.
The foursome delivered a lazy, nonchalant tune next, written by Steve and “dedicated to all new friends,” and then Steve opened the following number with staccato drums. Laughing, winking, sneaking mischievous glances at the audience, he looked “as adorable as a cartoon mouse,” as someone put it. As the stage blacked out, the lights zoomed in on him and Deiter added to the unearthly, oriental aura by wiping his moist palm on the bass, making cryptic squeaks in the background. Le meanwhile rendered the traces of a haunting forest tune as the tattoo continued. Steve was joined eventually by the rest to create a controlled musical frenzy, which concluded on an easy, oriental play by Le.
It was time for Deiter to display his forte with a dark, frenzied bass. As he pulled and plucked and slid his fingers up and down the bass strings, he was joined by Steve’s feathery beat which paved the way for Irfan to step in. Le stirred up the emotional element by playing at his slowest best on the metronome while the brush strokes breathed life into the tabla. Somehow, this performance came to a beautifully abrupt end without ever quite meeting its underlying climax.
Irfan came under the spotlight next in a tune that began with a collective murmur on all instruments. As he set the pace, the murmurings faded away, leaving the stage open for the tabla to dominate. Lashing out with a dexterity that only the gifted can render, Irfan delivered a performance par excellence until finally, in a passionate frenzy, he was joined by the other instruments for a breathtaking finale.
Following their solo stints, the musicians came together to churn out a set of true jazz tunes full of pleasant surprises catchy, emotional and downright carefree at the same time. At the end, all four were presented with cultural gifts of the ajrak.
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