ISLAMABAD: The audience in the packed Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) auditorium was left spellbound by jazz performers Wolfgang Haffner and the Band on Wednesday.

The band was brought to Pakistan by the German embassy and the Goethe Institute. It consists of Wolfgang Haffner on drums, Ferdinand Kirner on guitar, Simon Oslender on piano and Christian Diener playing bass.

Wolfgang Haffner is one of Europe’s most prolific jazz drummers and composers. This was his second time performing in Pakistan after a period of many years.

Ambassador Martin Kobler welcomed the audience and group, saying: “We don’t have very frequent concerts of German musicians here and that is why I am particularly happy that Wolfgang Haffner and his group are here.”

He added: “Haffner is from the city of Nuremburg in south Germany and he has toured the world. He can be heard on about 400 albums, has played all major jazz festivals around the world. He has recorded 16 solo albums and has made a name for himself as a producer of bands.”

Mr Haffner introduced his band members and the songs they played. The first composition was called Hippie and the second Shapes, followed by three songs from the album Kind of Spain.

Hippie is one of Haffner’s own compositions, laidback, relaxed – a melodic number reminiscent of an earlier time, while Shapes was cool jazz incarnate. Drum solos charged the room, while the interplay between instruments and players added emotional depth.

Mr Haffner said: “I live in Spain part time and I was collecting some songs there. The first song from Spain we will play is Tres Notas Para Decir Te Quiero which means Three Notes to Tell You that I Love You. The second song is Pasodoble by Lars Danielsson and the third one is a great composition by Chick Corea called Spain.”

The band went on to delight the audience with a wide array of sophisticated, modern jazz and drew endless rounds of applause.

Mr Haffner ended the concert on a profound note, saying that we are all humans and we all like music. He added that in life all questions have one answer and that is love.

“I loved the slow pieces which were almost languid but then there would be very fast paced drum solo or guitar solo to change the tone of the piece altogether. Absolutely one of the best concerts I’ve attended in a long time,” concertgoer Aimen Aqib said.

Asghar Sheikh said: “I thank the German embassy for bringing such exceptional musicians to Islamabad.”

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2018