Darjeeling, Nov. 13: In the early seventies, Louis Banks,
the `godfather of jazz in India`, hit the music scene with the first
incarnation of his seminal band - The Louis Banks Brotherhood - featuring
stalwarts like Pam Crain and Braz Gonsalves.
After almost thirty years, the new-look
Brotherhood led by Louis and including his son Gino Banks, played
at his hometown, delivering one of the finest performances the hill
town has seen in the recent past. Speaking about the new line-up of his group, Banks said: `It is
a young band but an extremely talented one. We have a new vocalist,
Sania Saigal, who is one of the best singers among the upcoming
lot in the country.
Living up to the promise, Banks and his band set the stage on fire
with truly memorable music. The sextet, comprising Gino on drums,
Shadab on percussion, Tala on saxophone, Shedon on bass, Saina Saigal
on vocals and Louis Banks on keyboards, wove magic that took the
listener on a delightful sonic journey.
The hill town audience accorded a warm welcome to Dambar Bahadur
Budhapriti (Banks' Nepali name) on a chilly winter evening that
seemed just right for an evening of jazz and beyond. Even as the crowd swelled at Chowrastha, a nostalgic Banks spoke
of his first visit to Darjeeling after thirty years. `I took Gino
down to the market and through the streets. It really felt nice,`
said Banks, who occasionally spoke in Nepali, throwing the crowds
into frenzy.
As the evening settled in, the Louis Banks Brotherhood got into
action and kicked off its concert, Three Hour Run, with a composition,
which, in Banks' own words, was inspired by their `drive up the
Pankhabari route from Bagdogra`.
Banks indulged in friendly banter with the crowd before getting
into the groove. `Our drivers have great confidence in driving on this narrow road.
Nepali drivers are among the best,` he said before the programme.
Spellbound by Banks' sheer virtuosity, the crowd was also impressed
by the performance of every member of the Brotherhood. Special attention
was showered on Gino Banks whose ability to rock it right with the
sticks, received much praise and appreciation from the audience.
The band performed a repertoire that included jazz favourites
from the swing and bebop eras including songs like No Mercy and
Moving On From Here, before veering into original arrangements of
popular songs like Killing Me Softly and instrumentals like St Thomas.
The crowd often burst into enthusiastic applause and performed a
jig or two to show their appreciation of the band's musical prowess.
Neelkamal Chhetri, who had come all the way from Kalimpong for
the concert, said: `It was truly enjoyable. I also enjoyed the old
songs sung by Deep Arora and Puran Gongba, before the beginning
of Banks' performance`.
The old singers from town, had got together to perform at the
concert belting out popular songs of the sixties and seventies.
Their performance titled Yesterday Once More introduced the best
music from earlier decades to an audience where the young and old
alike rocked to the sounds of blues, rockabilly, classic rock and
retro-pop nuggets like the theme song.
Samir Sharma, one of the organisers of the Darjeeling Carnival,
said after the performance: Our town has proved yet again that it
enjoys good and serious music. The fact that Louis Banks has performed
at this carnival has already made it a success in the eyes of many.`
Louis Banks' performance at the carnival was an unique event because
the Brotherhood eschewed its `pure jazz` approach to embrace a wider
idiom that made its music accessible to a larger audience.
Banks said: Three Hour Run was our theme for the evening. We hit
on the idea of structuring the show around the emotions we felt
during our three-hour long drive to Darjeeling. The journey was
filled with many interesting moments and we wanted to bring out
these ideas in the show. We also composed a title track for the
show of the same name.
Courtesy
The Telegraph |
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