Inspired by Indian classical music

Four talented artistes from four different countries will be entertaining music lovers in the City today

Konarak Reddy, Sandor Szabo from Hungary, Masa Sumide from Japan and Don Ross from Canada will perform in the City on November 13 and 14 at Jayamahal Palace Hotel at 7 pm.

Sandor Szabo, from Hungary experimented with different styles of music from the late seventies. “I don't think in terms of style but would like to dip my fingers in every genre and create something new,” says Sandor.

 Sandor also says that he could never associate himself with the guitar and never listened to any guitar music. But somewhere the guitar met him and he took to it. He began with classical music and soon after trying different genres quickly switched to Hungarian music.

 Sandor has incorporated Indian ragas in his music. “Music is a state of mind. There’s a lot of psychology that goes into play,” he says. He developed an Eastern style all of his own. “I would like to teach those to whom the guitar is more than just a hobby. Young players must learn to go beyond mere notes and scales. They must experiment, explore new tunes and sounds,” thinks Sandor. His music has a new guitar sound, blending the classical forms with the meditative mood of the Eastern music, Hungarian folk musical elements, and improvisation that he inherited from jazz.

Masa Sumide confesses that he’s had no formal training in music, “I just picked it up by ear. I was so taken up by the ‘The Ventures’ that I picked up the guitar when I was barely 12 years old,” he says. Then he caught on to the sound of the ‘Deep Purple’. The heavy metal caught his fancy and he switched styles. Later as he matured as a musician, he settled in for Joe Pass’s chord melody and developed on that.

Don Ross, who has produced his own instrumental album and now released a vocal solo album, says he draws his timing and rhythm from South Indian music. “I picked up the sense of time from Indian classical music. I studied Carnatic music first before I strayed into other forms and that has influenced me a great deal,” he says. Don first started experimenting with the solo possibilities of the acoustic guitar at the age of eight. The result is an unclassifiable musical style that borrows from jazz, folk, rock and classical music. When asked, Don usually terms his music as ‘Heavy Wood’.

Konarak Reddy is best known for his finger-style playing, as well as for integrating Hindustani and Carnatic styles of improvisation into his guitar technique.

Passes to the concert are available at the venue.