KARACHI: “If music be the food of love, play on.” This is an oft-quoted Shakespearean line. And there’s wisdom in it. The word food suggests nourishment, and life is worth nothing without nourishment of the soul. This was aptly demonstrated by the Austrian all-girl trio Kusimanten in the National Academy of Performing Arts’ (Napa) Zia Mohyeddin auditorium on Friday evening.

The band first played their own compositions and then was joined by the academy’s head of the music department, sitar player Nafees Ahmad, who was accompanied by the young tabla player Waqas Gulab.

The three girls — Tamara Lukasheva (vocals, gesang), deeLinde (cello) and Marie-Theres Hartel (viola) — entertained a large crowd with their remarkable music marked by short, nifty notes.

Austrian all-girl trio puts on a show at Napa

The band started off with a track marked by yodelling, and followed it up with a traditional Ukrainian song (Tamara is Ukraine-born). The next number was composed by Tamara — it was called ‘Stay human, use your brain and don’t let wrong thoughts get into your mind’. While the rhythm of the track was familiar, its melody had a distinct folk flavour. Tamara’s controlled and lilting vocals, deeLinde’s catchy riffs and Marie-Theres’ delectable notes made abundantly clear both the message of the song and the immense talent that the three artists have.

Then came perhaps the most interesting item of the evening: it was called a ‘Love song to tomatoes’. The audience was told that Marie-Theres has a balcony in her house where she grows tomatoes. They’re more delicious than the ones bought from the market. She once got so fascinated by their taste that she wrote a song about them. Interestingly, the word for tomato in Austrian German sounds like ‘paradise’. Since the audience had been given the background of the song, when the band played the composition, it sounded doubly interesting. The melody was playful and the bassline groovy.

This was followed by a philosophically inclined track inspired by a ‘garden’ and a tune that Tamara claimed was written for an orchestra of 80. But the band’s versatility was at its best when it played a jazz composition called ‘Emily’. It was pure jazz that sounded somewhat like the soundtrack of a Woody Allen film.

In the latter half of the concert, the taste of music changed when Nafees Ahmad and Waqas appeared on stage. The sitar player announced his arrival by playing raga Charukeshi to the delight of the local audience. Afterwards, the Austrian trio joined the two Pakistanis for some fusion content beginning with a song that Tamara said had the same meaning in German as it had in Urdu. It was pretty good.

Published in Dawn, October 21st, 2018