It’s all about being unique

The ‘Sanyog’ music band, comprising Indian, Iranian and Polish musicians enthralled an audience at a concert at Kochi  

Pics by Albin Mathew 

By Shevlin Sebastian 

Very soon into the ‘Beyond Kochi Sounds’ music concert by the ‘Sanyog’ band at the Kerala Museum, on October 12, the audience is soaked in a wide variety of sounds: the violin, saxophone, cajon, drums, tambourine, piano, mridangam, hand cymbals, khanjari and the maraca. This comes as no surprise when you look at the band members: Iranian pianist Hami Keivan, a Polish saxophonist Jerzy Maczynski, violinist Apoorva Krishna (all three of them have just completed their Masters from the Berklee College of Music in Valencia, Spain), and Bengaluru-based Carnatic musicians Vinod Shyam and Sunaad Anoor. 

Young Apoorva has been the driving force behind Sanyog. Asked what Sanyog means, she says, “A confluence of world genres, a collaboration, or a coming together.” 

The group met for the first time at Bengaluru just three days before their Kochi concert and jammed together for ten hours at a stretch. The majority of the compositions were created by Apoorva, while there were two works by Hami who played the melodies of one of Iran’s notable composers, Abol Hasan Sabā (1902-57), as well as Iranian jazz while Jerzy played Polish jazz, again on two works. 

And for Jerzy, it has been a startling introduction to India. During a break in rehearsals, at Bengaluru, he wanted to have black coffee. So Vinod took him, along with Apoorva, on a scooter. And as Apoorva, said with a laugh, “This was the first time Jerzy was seeing a cow, a horse, a few dogs, potholes and too many buses, cars and auto-rickshaws on the road.” 

Jerzy nodded and said, ‘Mind-blowing. I didn’t know how to react. But I love Indian culture.” 

“And Indian women,” interjected Vinod. At the hotel where they had the coffee, he was taken up by the dusky beauty of the waitress.     

Meanwhile, at the Kochi concert, Vinod started singing a konnakol (vocal syllables) ‘Taka Dim, Taka Dim’ and, as the saxophone and violin joined in, it became a hypnotic chant. Many audience members swayed their heads from side to side or tapped their feet. 

Yes, the audience lapped it all up. Says Alphons Joseph, Mollywood music director: “Apoorva is a trained Carnatic violinist. Since she went and studied at Berklee, she could bring a wide range of musical genres in her compositions. And she did it so well. I was also very much impressed by the piano-playing of Hami. Thanks to him, I was able to hear a new type of music from Iran. Even Jerzy played very well. All the genres mixed even as they retained their individual identities. It resulted in a new and unique sound, which was very attractive. An analogy would be of different colours being mixed together and a new colour gets formed.” 

Guest Captain Suresh said it was an innovative and mellifluous ensemble. “Five very talented musicians who together kept us mesmerised.”      

Earlier, during a pre-performance chat, the Carnatic musicians said that it had been a challenging time to get a wavelength with Hami and Jerzy. “Some musicians have said that if you know Carnatic music, you can play any music,” says Vinod. “But that is not true. You have to learn, you have to work.”

Adds Apoorva: “Since I belong to the East and have studied in the West I understood the difficulties for Vinod and Sunaad. The sounds are very different. But then all of us were out of our comfort zones and improvising as we went along.” In fact, one composition at the concert was a jugalbandi that was a marvel in improvisation.  

Keeping a paternal eye on the group is Murali Krishna, the father of Apoorva who is also doubling up as the manager of the band. “Innovation is key,” he says. “The sound compositions have never been heard before. The saxophone is combining with the violin and piano. It is a judicious mix of Indian classical, Iranian classical and Polish jazz.” 

Murali pauses and says, “This is the music of the future. It will be accepted by the people because cultures are uniting and music is at the forefront of this change.”