‘We’re big fans of Pandit Ravi Shankar’

Four world musicians with varied musical backgrounds will perform in city

Is the sum of different styles of music better than its parts? Four world musicians, with varied musical backgrounds, will perform in Mumbai on Saturday to prove that is the case. Musicians David Goodman, Frank Wingold, Dylan Fowler and Eric Morell met in Delhi for the first time on Tuesday. The next evening, they played, to a live audience, a largely improvisational set of blues-folk and jazz music.

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“We’re big fans of ‘

jugalbandi’

and maestros such as Pandit Ravi Shankar. It isn’t easy playing extempore since everyone’s so conscious, but the different elements make the music beautiful,” says Canadian acoustic singer-songwriter Goodman.While Goodman has only been to India earlier on vacation, the others have collaborated with Indian musicians and played concerts. On his Rajasthan tour, Wales jazz artiste Fowler played an Indo-Celtic mix with Bangalore musician Konarak Reddy. He has also worked with sarod player Prakash Deep. His German counterpart, Wingold, wants to perform with a Carnatic ensemble and reveres percussionists Zakir Hussain and Trilok Gurtu.

“We play solo and in a group, so people get to experience variations of our sound. Each of us brings his own music to the table, and as a band, we have a wholly different sound,” says Fowler. Spaniard Eric Morell senses a connect between India and the music of his people, Flamenco. In Holland, he’s played with Indian sitarists and tabla players, and believes flamenco naturally blends with jazz, blues and folk.

“This collaboration will dispel the system of classifying music into genres. I mix the jazz violin with flamenco guitar and jazz trumpet with flamenco dance; everything goes well together. With each day we’re getting to know each other, and our music is only going to become better,” Morell says.