Mela Thing

MAHAPHON CLANG

MULTIGENERATIONAL MAHAPHON CLANG BRIDGING THE GENERATION GAP! The generation gap is usually defined as a lack of communication between one generation and another, particularly with respect to such matters as musical tastes, fashion, technology and politics. Well, my association with Mahaphon Clang disproves this assumption completely! Let’s start with musical tastes: in 2009 Dr. Ulrich Kurth, former jazz impresario for the WDR radio station who, during the 1990s, produced several projects of mine, invited me to come and listen to Lautstark!4, an exciting quartet of young musicians featuring his sons Jan and Matthias Kurth, Lutz Streun and Demian Kappenstein at the Stadtgarten in Cologne. So I went to the concert together with my wife. To say that we were impressed by the energy, creativity and musicality of these young musicians would be an understatementwe were blown away! A year later I got a call from the Kurth brothers asking me if I would like to sit in as a guest with Lautstark!4 at the Loft in Cologne! Fitting into the band’s concept of improvising from the word go felt like the most natural thing on earth! Coming to fashion: when I first saw the band the four young guys appeared in differently coloured sweat suits with hoods looking like hip hoppers and rappers, yet playing music which encompassed all genres! When it became apparent that I would become a regular member of the group, renamed Mahaphon Clang, I was presented with a black sweatshirt with a hood! Regarding technology: from low tech megaphones (one of the reasons for the band’s name) to iPhones and all kinds of gadgets to enhance the music, we are all happily in the same vein. On to politics (and culture): having been on a couple of tours to India and its neighbouring countries such as Pakistan and Bangladesh with Jan, Matthias, Lutz and Demian, I realise how much their generation is more ‘aware’ of the world at large, its cultural diversity and its various political ideologies, than that of my own generation at their age. Travelling in cities like Chennai, Bangalore, Delhi, Chandigarh, Karachi and Dhaka with Mahaphon Clang was a terrific experience. It was wonderful for me to see these young men confronting the challenges of making their way as strangers in strange lands and cities, with respect and enthusiasm. This CD is a documentation of Mahaphon Clang’s 2014 tour to India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Although the whole tour lasted only 16 days, the band managed to travel through six cities, criss-crossing the subcontinent playing half a dozen concerts and spending three days at the Clementine Studio in Chennai. In spite of the hectic schedule involving early morning train and plane journeys, dealing with checking in and checking out of hotels, rehearsals and concerts, I’ve never experienced a more happy-go-lucky band on the road! Punctuality was never an issue, something that can be a perpetual problem with most bands. I’ve often travelled with older European colleagues who’ve been fastidious with the food of the subcontinent, approaching it with caution and a touch of suspicion. But the Mahaphon guys simply feasted on the cuisines of Goa, Tamil Nadu, Sindh and Bengal! Any minor attack brought on by a stomach bug was bravely ignored as they gorged themselves on Goan Fish Curry one day, Masala Dosa in Chennai the next day, Garlic Butter Nan and Paneer Tikka Masala in Karachi and Ras Malai in Dhaka! The music heard on this album is a culmination of all that occurred during the tour. The studio sessions were impulsive and spontaneous, and recorded live. For me, a ‘been there done that’ kind of musician, the Mahaphon Clang sessions were an eye-openera fantastically fresh approach to creating and recording music. Bhangra grooves, rhythmic patterns based on South Indian concepts, fretless guitar licks, bass clarinet lines passing through an octave divider, vocal distortion using megaphones, all interspersed with acoustic drums, cajon, tavil, kanjira and konakol combine to create a brand of music which finally embraces all genres! Ramesh S

Price: $26.99