A neat fusion of sounds

Fusion concerts always have an element of surprise and there are a lot of takers for fusion in the City. The ‘Fusion Dreams’, an Indo-Jazz contemporary fusion by Jyotsna Srikanth and her team, during the Bengaluru Sangeeth Utsav 2012, at Chowdiah Memorial Hall recently, was a proof that fusion music is popular among music aficionados.

The concert had a neat blend of different instruments. There was Shadrach Solomon on
keyboards, Marten Wisser on saxophone, Jeet on lead guitar, Rudy David on bass guitar, Arjun Kumar on Indian percussion, Manjunath N S on drums and Karthik Mani on world percussion. And the evening became truly memorable when all these musicians played together. The pieces, they performed, ranged from Classical Indian, to a mixture of musical notes and just random sounds.

The pieces were lively and had a fresh perspective. It left those in the audience amazed. The evening began with the piece titled, ‘Haunting Thoughts’ in raga salapam.

Like its name, the piece enthralled the audience, with its eerie yet emotional notes. Other notable pieces were ‘Ecstasy’, one of Jyotsna’s most-renowned pieces, which clearly depicted happiness. There was an Irish folk dance which portrayed the
traditional Irish folk music, complete with their fast-paced notes. A blowing instrument was used to reproduce the sounds usually made by a Scottish accordion. To add to the delight of the audience, items like ‘ghungroo’ and special musical instruments like Cajon, a musical instrument from Peru, were used.

A few of the other pieces at the performance were ‘Sprint’ in sindhu raga, ‘hip-hop violin’, kalyana mix in raga kalyani, ‘west to east’, ‘alone with mother nature’, ‘inside’, ‘monsoon magic’ in raga malhar, and ‘canter.’ A few pieces were also religious renditions that had Chandana Kalyani sing along with the instruments playing, like Lord Hanuman, Bhaja Govindam, ‘nine planets’, Lord Krishna and Rama and Saraswati Namastote.

The lighting was in sync with the performance and the musical concert was a treat in itself. Each piece was intense in character, with a powerful presentation that left the crowd spellbound.

Those in the audience thoroughly enjoyed the concert. Srinivasan, a homemaker, who was highly impressed by the performance, said, “Although I had heard of Jyotsna’s music, I never knew that this evening would be so magical.”

Mamata Rohini Shetty, a graduate student, opined, “People tend to overlook
Carnatic and classical performances sometimes. I am a student of Carnatic music and I know how it feels not to be appreciated. The pieces that were performed not only helped people reconnect to their roots but provided a fresh angle to the music.”