Trilok Gurtu
Credit: Special Arrangement
Percussion maestro Trilok Gurtu is performing a new set in Bengaluru on October 26. The concert features a European jazz ensemble, touring India for the first time.
“It is an international show after a very long time, and we have different compositions, different musicians,” Gurtu told Metrolife in an online interview. He had visited Bengaluru last year for a show that showcased
folk music.
Gurtu has collaborated with musicians across the world, releasing 20
albums in a career spanning six decades. His music is sometimes reminiscent of Shakti, the pathbreaking fusion band that combined jazz and Indian classical rhythms.
Known to innovate with traditional Indian instruments and a modern drum kit, Gurtu’s music pursues new sounds. The ensemble coming to Bengaluru features Carlo Cantini (Italy), composer and co-producer with Gurtu, who plays the violin. Roland Cabezas (German-Spanish), known for his work with Toni Braxton, plays the guitar. The line-up also includes Jonathan Ihlenfeld (German), versatile bassist, and Ryan Carniaux (USA/Europe), trumpeter and professor of jazz.
Trilok Gurtu’s first guru was his mother, the well-known Hindustani vocalist Shobha Gurtu. In his early days, he played percussion for film recordings in Mumbai. He also played Western percussion with jazz and rock bands, forming his first band in 1969.
Now a resident of Germany, Gurtu is touring India, with concerts lined up this weekend in three cities — Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru.
Gurtu sees his music as genre-defying. “Whatever name you give it is not correct. You can call it whatever you like,” he says.
But he is not averse to the labels of jazz and Indian classical music, the improvisational potential of which he is constantly exploring. In Mumbai, where he grew up in the south Indian enclave of Matunga, he was fascinated by the rhythms of the mridangam, and began picking up its nuances. “Karnatik music has been underplayed, but now everyone is picking it up and the audience for konnakol (vocal articulation of beats) is growing,” he says.
The Trilok Effect, Prestige Centre for Performing Arts, 6 pm, Sunday, October 26.