03-30-2019, 05:39 PM
(This post was last modified: 03-31-2019, 09:02 AM by Drunk Monk.)
Stacy got us tix for my birthday last month. It's been looming on the calendar as a big hope we can make it. We did, thankfully. First of all, I luv the Rio because it's only like 4 blocks from our bungalow. Because of all that's been going on with my mom, I hadn't really tuned into what this show was about, just that it was Zakir, the master of tablas and an old fav that Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead turned me on to like 3 decades ago. When we were in India, we caught this India People's Court kind of show on TV and Zakir was on it. We were delighted but there were no subs so we never figured out why he was taking the stand.
Stacy takes such good care of me. We had reservations at Lillian's across the street and I indulged in the mushroom appetizer and prawns diavolo - so delicious. We watched the line go in and then went over - Stacy had got Gold Circle tix, which were the first 5 rows. The place was filling up and we found seats in the front row, slightly to stage left. We were about 15 feet from Zakir.
There was some sitar player who got stopped by ICE so two subs played, a violin/vocalist and this hand drum player, kind of like a tambourine without the little jingly cymbals. Unbelievable how much sound those 3 got out of their instruments, so complex, and blindingly fast. I was watched their hands intently, especially Zakir, and it's like he has extra fingers, pulling beats that I couldn't even see. At times, his fingers were just a blur and it was like multiple machine gun fire. Transcendent.
The basic motif is kind of like duelling banjos. It's actually older, based on call response music, chanting called kirtan. The violinist would toss out a musical idea and the other two would take turns repeating it. As they build on the rhythms - keeping in mind that Indian music works on insanely complex times signatures - it culminates in this explosion of sound, with hairpin turns and always stops on a dime. I can't even imagine trying to think that fast and that deep in improv. It's hard enough just to keep up. It's like jazz.
Later, joining the trio was jazz drummer Eric Harland. His solo was fantastic, but I felt he didn't quite fit into the sound. And with his high cymballed trap set, he couldn't get as much music out as the guy with the simple hand drum. Even later, the Mattannur Sankarankutty Marar group joined - a quartet of drummers from Kerala that usually only play in temples and at religious events. There was a lead, and three back ups, a cymbalist and two more chenda drummers. They were right in front of us, so loud, and I felt the back up players weren't necessary because they were just keeping time. The leaders interplay with Zakir was amazing however. But still, I would've been content with just the initial trio.
The Cruz audience understands. We ooh and ahh and laugh at the lyrical jokes, and applaud the jams, which feeds the musicians to push harder.
The show was in honor of the 100th birthday of Ustad Allarakha, Zakir's father and a pioneer in taking Indian music global. There's a world tour, and it ends later this month back in India - Mumbai near where we lived - with 100 musicians playing on his actual 100th birthday. It'll be live streamed so I hope I can find that.
Stacy takes such good care of me. We had reservations at Lillian's across the street and I indulged in the mushroom appetizer and prawns diavolo - so delicious. We watched the line go in and then went over - Stacy had got Gold Circle tix, which were the first 5 rows. The place was filling up and we found seats in the front row, slightly to stage left. We were about 15 feet from Zakir.
There was some sitar player who got stopped by ICE so two subs played, a violin/vocalist and this hand drum player, kind of like a tambourine without the little jingly cymbals. Unbelievable how much sound those 3 got out of their instruments, so complex, and blindingly fast. I was watched their hands intently, especially Zakir, and it's like he has extra fingers, pulling beats that I couldn't even see. At times, his fingers were just a blur and it was like multiple machine gun fire. Transcendent.
The basic motif is kind of like duelling banjos. It's actually older, based on call response music, chanting called kirtan. The violinist would toss out a musical idea and the other two would take turns repeating it. As they build on the rhythms - keeping in mind that Indian music works on insanely complex times signatures - it culminates in this explosion of sound, with hairpin turns and always stops on a dime. I can't even imagine trying to think that fast and that deep in improv. It's hard enough just to keep up. It's like jazz.
Later, joining the trio was jazz drummer Eric Harland. His solo was fantastic, but I felt he didn't quite fit into the sound. And with his high cymballed trap set, he couldn't get as much music out as the guy with the simple hand drum. Even later, the Mattannur Sankarankutty Marar group joined - a quartet of drummers from Kerala that usually only play in temples and at religious events. There was a lead, and three back ups, a cymbalist and two more chenda drummers. They were right in front of us, so loud, and I felt the back up players weren't necessary because they were just keeping time. The leaders interplay with Zakir was amazing however. But still, I would've been content with just the initial trio.
The Cruz audience understands. We ooh and ahh and laugh at the lyrical jokes, and applaud the jams, which feeds the musicians to push harder.
The show was in honor of the 100th birthday of Ustad Allarakha, Zakir's father and a pioneer in taking Indian music global. There's a world tour, and it ends later this month back in India - Mumbai near where we lived - with 100 musicians playing on his actual 100th birthday. It'll be live streamed so I hope I can find that.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse
