Piano and flute to offer East-West musical fusion
Piano and flute to offer East-West musical fusion
Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia and Louis Banks are two great
maestros due to play together on the same platform in Jakarta,
creating a perfect sangam (fusion) of East and West with piano,
flute and drums.
India Club Jakarta will host the event on the evening of Aug.
21 at Sahid Jaya hotel.
Chaurasia is an internationally acclaimed flautist. Playing a
bamboo flute, he is known mostly for his outstanding contribution
to popularizing Indian classical music around the globe.
The young Chaurasia had an immense love of music; by the age
of 15 he was taking his first steps toward becoming a classical
singer. Soon after he heard a flute recital by Pandit Bholanath,
Hariprasad was so impressed that he changed his focus from
singing to flute.
At the age of 19 he was playing at all the prestigious
institutions in India. Gradually, with his wide-ranging ability
and innovative approach he developed a style that was respectful
of tradition yet full of innovation.
Over a lifetime he won a clutch of prestigious prizes like the
national awards of Sangeet Academy, PadmaVibhushan, Konarak
Samman, Yash Bharti Samman, and so on.
He has collaborated with a number of Western musicians,
including John McLaughlin and Jan Gabarek, and has composed music
for a number of Indian films. He heads the world music department
at Rotterdam Music Conservatory, the Netherlands.
Banks is a composer, improviser, pianist and keyboard player
who specializes in live acoustics and electronic performances
covering all genres of music popular including jazz and Indo
jazz.
He has performed worldwide with eminent figures like Eddie
Daniel, Roseanne Vitro, Eddie Henderson, Angela Hangenbach, Zakir
Hussain, Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Shanker Mahadewan FayVictor, Leni
Stern and many others.
As a jazz pianist and keyboard player Louis has represented
India at many European music festivals including Berlin Jazz, The
Cascais Jazz Fest, the Jazz Jamboree in Poland, and music
festivals in Russia, Czechoslovakia and elsewhere.
His new fusion band, SILK, was well received at the Royal
Festival Hall, London, and the National arts festival in
Singapore.
A great improviser and a serious composer, Louis has several
stage musicals, movie background scores and volumes of popular
jazz compositions to his name. -- JP
(For further information contact India Club Jakarta tel. 9391949
or e-mail indiaclub@cbn.net.id)
`