Mahaphon Clang makes it khaas

Band unleashes impromptu combination of eclectic sound and jazzy rhythms at the concert.

ISLAMABAD: The German-Indian band Mahaphon Clang performed at Kuch Khaas on Friday evening, rounding off their whirlwind tour in the country. The concert was organised in collaboration with Goethe-Institute.

Introducing the band, German Ambassador Dr Cyril Nunn, said that the band had two parts — a percussionist from India and a quartet from Germany. The band describes their music as music of the moment. Alternately, they dub their sound as multi-folkloric, urban improvised music.



“Their music is about communication, diversity and bringing people together from different parts of the world,” said Dr Nunn, before opening the concert. The band members are: Ramesh Shotham on percussion and vocals, brothers Jan F and Matthias Kurth on vocals and electric guitar respectively, Lutz Streun on saxophone and bass clarinet and  Demian Kappenstein on drums.

They appeared on stage donning a uniform of colour-coded hoodies: Ramesh in black, Jan in red, Lutz in blue and Demian in white. Instead of following a pre-set playlist, the band let the music take its own, natural course.

Setting off on a mix of gentle rhythms, the band unleashed a combination of eclectic sound in no apparent order. Jan began with the hint of a whisper and Demian whirling a flexible plastic pipe, while Lutz played on the saxophone and Ramesh experimenting with a multitude of sounds. With a background of jazz influence, the sounds included impressions or rock, hip hop, reggae and South Indian classical music. Though somewhat outlandish, the sounds seemed oddly liberating and spirited in its own way.

Both Ramesh and Demian showcased percussion sounds from a variety of unusual instruments such as brushes, thaali, ghungroos, dholak, children’s toys, bottle-caps, junkyard metal and bubble-wrap. Jan sang into a mini loudspeaker, to amplify resonance. The band played one of Jan’s compositions — quotations from Rajhistani singers and a qawwali singer in Pakistan, putting together two melodies to create ‘Hamd Tarana’, an East-meets-West symphony of sorts.



Another song, ‘Seven Days. Three Cities. One World’ was an interpretation of their last week’s travel to Frankfurt, Karachi, Lahore and finally Islamabad. Opening on a jazz-inspired note, the song was dominated by heavy bass and drums, going into classical ragas. “Over this past week, we’ve met a lot of musicians and seen many sites and we have to let these impressions out and let you absorb them!” said Demian.

Somewhere between the performances, the musicians removed the hoodies to reveal Pakistan cricket jerseys from the world cup this year. “I put up a picture of myself wearing this jersey online and a friend from India said, ‘hey man, what’re you doing?’,” joked Ramesh. “I replied, ‘Well, this week, I’m supporting Pakistan, will wear a new jersey next week!’”

Finally, they concluded the performance with the ‘Sleeping Song’. “We try to make it traditional, whatever that means,” quipped, Demian. “Because, we are in the tradition, whatever that means,” Jan was quick to add. With lights dimmed, each of the band members took a dramatically slow start, dispersing and disappearing from the hall to combine into a mellow, meditative trance.

The audience reciprocated the energy with praise and applause. Maimoona, an audience member, said that she found the acoustics a bit compromised due to the enclosed space of the hall, but she enjoyed the different rhythms the band played. “The beginnings and endings were interesting and I loved the saxophone and it was just fun looking at them play all these interesting instruments,” she said.

Published in The Express Tribune, March  9^th,  2015.

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