Melding fine jazz with Indian classical music
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E-mail Shanghai Daily, June 5, 2015
Interestingly, vocalist Sarathi Chatterjee, who is trained in Hindustani classical music, claims he can spot foreign influences even in traditional Chinese music.
"We can find Persian and Indian influence in some Chinese music. In fact, what we call "Raga Khamaj" in Hindustani music is used a lot in traditional Chinese music."
Chatterjee plans to render some semi-classical composition for the Shanghai audience.
A learning process
"Some of them are actually extremely catchy tunes and represent regional and seasonal music which I feel would merge extremely well with traditional Chinese and jazz forms.
"I expect it to be an extremely enriching experience ... what can be more enlightening than learning a different genre of music while playing my own style? That is essentially what happens when musicians of completely different styles work together. It is a learning process during which something wonderful is created that incorporates elements of all the different styles."
Chatterjee will pitch his vocal strength against Haavik and his team — Greg Smith, Fred Grenade, Pan Li and Li Daiguo — all familiar names in the local jazz scene, on June 14.
"I am particularly excited about our upcoming concert as I will have the opportunity to perform some of my original music which was inspired by Indian music," says Haavik. "My piece ‘Mind Is a Time Machine' is based on a 35-beat rhythmic pattern which I developed and have been performing for years. I have always felt it would be quite at home in the realm of Indian music. This piece even includes a vocal segment with English lyrics, which I wrote in the style of traditional Indian vocal music."
On June 13, local fans will be introduced to Indian instrumental — sitar, tabla and flute — and classical music. The performance will also feature an interesting "jugalbandi," or duet of musicians. In "jugalbandi," both musicians act as lead players, and a playful competition exists between the two performers.
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