Hadouk Trio’, a French jazz band, performed in the City recently. The jazz trio taking to the stage did resemble all things in a flight and a familiar ringing voice informed the audience that they were about to take off on a journey.

The house was packed beyond capacity and some chairs had to be done away with to make place for those sitting on the floor.

The crowd was a mix of the young and the old. Even before it began, the music-lovers present knew this evening was going to be quite worth the effort.

‘Hadouk Trio’ was as modest as they could get and came with the added advantage of a sense of humour.

Didier Malherbe on the doudouk, soprano saxophone, khen and flute; Loy Ehrlich
on hajouj, gumbass, keyboards and kora and Steve Shehan on percussion, djembe and hang make up the ‘Hadouk Trio’.

The stage, being full of modified instruments, was far from anything that one had perhaps seen before.

The tunes that came out of the combination were magical, jazz primarily, with a splattering of influences from around the world.

The basic jazz elements of a guitar, a saxophone and a drum were intact, but the sounds were hardly what one could call ordinary.

The guitar resembled a tree’s girdle, the saxophone looked extraordinary and
the percussion was a chaotic mix.

The first few pieces, aimed at getting the crowd accustomed, were soft and smooth with catchy melodies.

The experimental rhythm followed. A French piece with Italian influence set the crowd swaying and applauding easily.

An Armenian piece came next and brought out the flute, sounding pleasantly similar to Indian music. By now, the crowd had opened up to ‘Hadouk Trio’, a jazz band with a difference.

Didier Malherbe then decided to give the audience a taste of their vocal chords. He sang a piece in French with rapid rhythmic beats that set the crowd clapping along and feeling more involved with the music.

The band continued, bringing out stranger looking instruments and juggling them with precision, breaking in the process every notion of a niche that is easily associated with
jazz.