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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