Date 3 July 2005 at 21.00 Venue Performance Works on Granville Island Reviewer
Kulpreet Sasan
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REZ ABBASI'S SNAKE CHARMER
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The first song sounded like the works of many a high school jazz band trying to learn improvisation. There was an endless amount of overplaying the guitar, and “isn’t this keen” rhythms work. This initial nuisance became an unbearable irritant on the second track, “Pearl,” dedicated to the memory of American journalist Daniel Pearl, killed in Abbasi’s birthplace of Karachi. On a song that was meant to be an eulogy and deal with circumspect emotions of the composer, all that could be heard was melodic improvisation exercises, that created too much of a show piece aspect to ever be haunting. The addition of Kiran Ahluwahlia’s subtle and haunting Indian folk music accents only worked to create distance between the intended design and the performance. At best the two elements didn’t seem to blend, and the juxtaposition seemed like a tacky addition added on for novelty’s sake. The two modes of music didn’t seem to know how to play with each other. Kiran’s voice is a subtle and versatile instrument, able to communicate a variety of tones and emotions, without a note of artificiality. It is self-contained perfection and made all the other instrumentations seem unnecessary. You could imagine the notes of a eulogy stretched out with that voice and how much more effective it would have been with the other instruments playing less, instead of trying to clutter the sound. |
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All in all, I was preparing myself for a rather disappointing evening when something strange happened. Kiran left the stage, the band reverted to three pieces and began turning out truly beautifully blended jams. Gary Versace on the organ tried to use his instrument as a substitute for an Indian harmonium and at times achieved this effect. Dan Weiss on drums created amazing rhythms and had a variety of sounds that effectively emphasized a successful blend of East and West. On his drum kit he created many a poly-rhythm not likely to be observed outside a Ravi Shankar concert. And Abbasi’s guitar’s tone became warmer and cleaner.
After the intermission when Kiran rejoined the band, none of the original dissonance seemed on display. The two worlds blended eloquently and created some very haunting and memorable moments. The instrumentation stood with the Kiran’s voice and phrasing, and worked together to create a greater whole. Abbasi’s guitar playing was on the spot: parts laid back, part brilliant and part inspired, yet always appropriate. The band had found its groove: they were sensitive each other, communicated well, and played to strengths, making each track more memorable than the last. By the end of the evening Snake Charmer had done the impossible, having made this fusion of classical Indian music and jazz seamless. Banished was the sense of exotic, and Indian inflections had been brought into mainstream of jazz sounds. © 2005 Kulpreet Sasan |