Soothing melodies, ambient sounds, East-meets-West fusion, guerrilla jazz... Jazzfest 2017, in association with t2, came alive with the sound of music from nine acts who wowed audiences at Dalhousie Institute over three days (December 8-10). The skies opened up, umbrellas came out, but nothing could dampen the spirit of music lovers who listened in rapt attention, grooving to the music. t2 brings you snapshots... 

C.A.R.

Kraut-electronic-jazz band C.A.R. from Cologne, Germany, brought the house down with their unconventional approach to playing jazz music. Synths, ambient pads and an abundance of modulations and delays on the saxophone and keyboard made for a psychedelic musical experience. Each soloist dominated at a time, while the others created a web of sound layers, though not in a classical jazz way. “This rain feels like Cologne, where we come from. You can see it but you can’t feel it. Come as close as you can and join us on this trip,” said Leonhard Huhn, who was on saxophone duties along with tackling the effects. “Thank you very much for being here, listening to our music and being a part of this journey. We are all in the same ‘C.A.R.’,” Huhn said.

Erik Truffaz & Riatsu

French jazz trumpet player Erik Truffaz floored the audience as he mixed post-bebop with fusion styles. Teaming up with ambient and electric musician Shadaab Kadri, who goes under the alias Riatsu, Erik played the melodies of the themes with gentle finesse and took off at the climaxes. Riatsu weaved in and out of the verses with raps that had enough room for improvisation to go along with Truffaz’s vast moods and melodies as the piano and percussions followed suit. “This city is an appealing chaos! I recorded an album here with Indrani and Apurba Mukherjee, two musicians I met,” Erik told t2  about his Calcutta connect.

Amyt Datta

Guitar guru Amyt Datta, accompanied by Jivraj Singh on drums, Aakash Ganguly on bass and Jonathan Kay on the saxophone, opened Jazzfest 2017 on December 8, playing tracks like Ironic Bironic, Introit and Ambiance De Danse. Amyt shuffled effortlessly between shreds, wide chordal spaces and the main themes of the songs. “The next song is a familiar one and some of you may be able to identify it,” he said, launching into Neelima, a tune he had co-written with his brother, the late Monojit Datta. “It’s always a pleasure and an honour to be playing at a festival like this. A lot of effort is invested in making such events successful and the organisers pulled off such an uphill task,” said Amyt.

EYM trio featuring Mirande Shah

Pianist Elie Dufour, double bassist Yann Phayphet and drummer Marc Michel — a collective known as the EYM trio, from France — delivered one of the most soothing performances of the fest. Chordal melodies and themes took centre stage as vocalist Mirande Shah joined the band. “We’ve decided to invite her for our next album. I’ve composed new songs for that. It fit very well, this is soulful and very inspiring for me,” Elie told t2 about the  vocalist they met last year in Ahmedabad.

Dufour and Phayphet used arpeggios to widen the canvas for Shah as she infused Indian classical elements into the compositions with ease. The crowd favourite was a track called Left Alone, which Dufour said was composed just a week ago and was being performed live for the first time. 

Pol Belardi’s Urban 5

The second act of Day One was Pol Belardi’s Urban 5, a quintet version of the original lineup from Pol Belardi’s Urban Voyage, from Luxembourg. Their songs used a fresh conjunction of ideas, blending intelligent lyrical themes with electronic, hip-hop, jazz and soul. Singer Mara Minjoli said that playing as a quintet implied that she had to learn the rap parts for the songs, a task that is usually taken care of by two other band-mates from their more elaborate 11-member lineup. They played songs like Sun, At The Control Station, Dancing With The Moon and Urban Voyage Suite, a three- part song that extends well over half an hour with nuances covering a variety of genres.

“It’s great fun to be here. The crowd is very receptive and we really enjoyed playing our set. This was just the second time we showcased some of our material and the response has been good,” said Eran Har Even, guitarist of Pol Belardi’s Urban 5.

Kefaya

The heavy influence of Indian classical music on Kefaya was evident from the start of their set. Led by guitarist Giuliano Modarelli and pianist Al MacSween, the band fused traditional Indian ragas with jazz and folk elements to make for a unique blend, which has been referred to in the past as “guerrilla jazz”. “We travel to India quite often and a lot of our musical upbringing and compositions are guided by the classical music here. Our music is a little different since we incorporate classical elements on instruments which aren’t meant for it,” said pianist Al MacSween, as they played a composition that amalgamated ragas Desh, Bairagi and Charukeshi.

Florian Favre Trio

Florian Favre Trio from Switzerland started the proceedings on a rain-soaked Day Two. Florian Favre on piano, Manu Hagmann on bass and Arthur Hnatek on drums were a big hit with songs like Ur and Satellite. Soothing melodies were complemented by subtle swells; a mini-keyboard mounted on top of the piano added texture to their tunes. “Thank you everyone for coming to listen to us. We had a lovely time playing for you and we would love to invite everyone to come and visit us in Switzerland,” said Florian Favre.

Mn’Jam Experiment

A complete audio-visual treat was in store as Mn’JAM Experiment from The Netherlands performed their concoction of just about everything — turntables, live looping, drums, traditional melodies and guitar solos. “Dhonnobaad Calcutta. We hope you enjoy this musical journey with us as much as we enjoy playing for you,” said singer Melissa Oliveira de Sousa aka M. Their tracks triggered stunning visuals in the background. A collaboration between singer M and electronics and visuals expert JAM, they came up with songs like Garden Waltz and Use Me as M piled on multiple loops in various harmonies around the central melody.

Text: Nikhil Sen

Pictures: Rashbehari Das, B. Halder and Arnab Mondal