| Mad about Manodharma Vivienne DuBourdieu on an eclectic music mix at the Watermans
A mix of music that began with 2000-year-old Indian traditions, moved on to rock, then rolled right to the edges of funky modern extemporisation filled Watermans on Friday, 7th May, and had the audience begging for more. The 90-minutes’ long performance began with a hypnotic, single phrase on bass guitar while the percussion, mridangam and tabla built up steam. Then they went into overdrive. And that was just the first track of the performance*. A watermelon grin spread across my face. It was clear from the easy camaraderie of these fine musicians they were settling in for an outstanding performance. There was no faltering, and no histrionics. Classical artist, Balachander Muthukrishnan played Mridangam alongside Tabla virtuoso, Pandit Sharda Sahai, and the very hip Shri Sriram on Bass, Flute, Percussion, and Electronics (Badmarsh and Shri, Jools Holland bands, amongst others). They were backed by Pete Lockett, one of the UK’s most versatile and prolific percussionists, acclaimed for tours with Peter Gabriel, Vanessa-Mae, and Bjork. As the performance developed, all four musicians bounced their voices against each other in monotonic carnatic fashion, adding to the texture of an already extraordinarily wide-ranging gig. I spotted Kathak master dancer, Guru Pratap Pawar hot-footing it in the dark to his front row seat before the third number ended. *The collaboration, Mandoharma, was organised by the Pandit Ram Sahi Foundation. It was recorded during the Friday performance on 7 May, and will shortly be available on CD. Additionally, a DVD, with notations of the pieces created, will be released as an educational resource for world music studies. The Pandit Ram Sahi Foundation is sponsoring another concert - Natyasastric - at Watermans on May 22nd, at 7.45pm. |