Carnatic Music Meets Jazz in Minneapolis

[Guest guest]

East - West music meet in Minneapolis

Sunday, 12/02/2007

 

Pooja Garg

India Post News Service

 

MINNEAPOLIS [uS]

 

One may say it was an East-West mini summit on music

when Kinsmen/Svajnem, accompanied by the Dakshina

Ensemble, played recently at the Walker Art Center in

Minneapolis. With similar roots in Southern India and a

common fascination for Jazz and classical Indian music,

Rudresh Mahanthappa and Kadri Gopalnath [...] are

sufficiently different to ensure their scintillating

collaboration in a true East-West summit.

 

India Post sat down to talk to Kinsmen/Svajnem about their

perspectives on collaborating with jazz and Carnatic music.

Rudresh Mahanthappa, an Indian-American born in Italy

and raised in Colorado, is the younger of the two and an is

an innovative saxophone player. Dr Kadri Goplanath is a

true phenomenon in the world of Indian classical music and

was awarded a Padmashree in 2004. He is known for

adapting the saxophone, a complex wind instrument, to play

Carnatic Music.

 

IP: How did you come up with the name Kinsmen?

RM: Well, Kinsmen is the English translation but I prefer to

call it Svajnem. We are both South Indians and play the

saxophone. Kadri is more innovative and a revolutionist

because he adapted the saxophone to play Carnatic music. I

model myself after musicians who are revolutions and

change the music such as Charlie Parker, John Coletran,

Duke Ellington. It is more than playing the saxophone and

being South Indian. It is more a state of mind and a mission.

 

IP: Coming from the different ends of the spectrum what

sets you two apart in the way you think of music?

RM: It is a meeting of the minds, half way point along with

being able to understand one another. The way we perceive

sound and rhythm is very different, but in the end the sound

is one unified concept that is definitely worthwhile to listen

to.

 

IP: Do you draw on your Indian descent [...]?

RM: It is more about being Indian American, and I am more

interested in describing hybrid identity. It is more about

describing something through music that is new. Indian

Americans are here to stay and taking the entertainment

industry all over the US. Indian Americans are infiltrating

the sciences, arts, Hollywood and we may as well scream it.

 

IP: How did you decide on what soundtracks to play in

producing music for the concert?

RM: It was more conceptual and I listened to about 60 or 70

tracks [of Kadri Goplanath's albums.] Along let's play this

raga it is in seven and based on this, we came up with an

intervened sound. We worked on this music together, [...]

And I came up with a raga and together we agreed this is

being beyond a jazz musician.

 

IP: Do you have a pet name for [your] altered saxophone?

KG: No, It is just called an alto saxophone. [....] It is a

beautiful, melodious, with a male voice. Most instruments

[have] a female voice such as the violin, shehnai. [....]

 

IP: Would you like to say anything to your fans?

RM: Improvisation is universal. Jazz and Carnatic music

have a lot of the same complexities and if you get past the

actual instruments and open your mind [...] you will notice

that you are really listening to the same music and are the

same building blocks of the music throughout the world.

 

[....] Music is universal. It may be east or west but our main

purpose it to make the audience happy, because they are

spending time to listen to it and enjoy it. If you like what

you hear go by artists, CDs, see them live. Listen to as much

live music as possible, because the live experience is

irreplaceable.

 

http://indiapost.com/article/communitypost/1486/