THE MAGIC OF MUSIC Part 2

 GETTING THE MOST OUT OF LISTENING TO MUSIC

Learning to listen by listening -- This is how I learned to listen to music while in college in the charming and peaceful city of Pune in the foothills of the Sahyadri mountain range in Maharashtra.

     I was determined to hear music in the same way that my musician friends heard the Rock music of the time which a few of us Rock loving friends sat and listened to in silence for hours together in the tranquil presence of Mary Jane.

LISTENING TO ROCK – The Rock music we listened to was creatively and musically at a very high level. We listened to whole 45-minute albums at a go, often repeating the whole album, never skipping a track, or only hearing tracks we liked. We listened to complete albums. Completely immersed in the music.

Dissimilar and divergent rock music -- It was the era of the Rolling Stones and the Beatles, The Who and Led Zeppelin. Jimi Hendrix, Cream, Blind Faith and The Doors. Pink Floyd and Procol Harum; there was Crosby, Stills and Nash, Deep Purple, Grateful Dead, Allman Brothers and Jethro Tull. Blues musicians, B.B. King, Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf. There were John Mayall and Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac, Mike Bloomfield, Paul Butterfield and Johnny Winter. There was Janis Joplin, Bob Dylan, Simon and Garfunkel, Joni Mitchell and Joan Baez. Chicago, and Blood Sweat and Tears. And the virtuosos that towered above them all, defying genre, Stevie Wonder and Frank Zappa. These were some but not all the bands we listened to.  

     Remarkably, all the music produced at the time was musically dissimilar from the others; each band and individual artist was distinctive in sound and expression; their music pushed boundaries and defied conventions. These bands are still spoken about and listened to even today. Rock, blues and folk classics.

     Listen, layer by layer -- After a long listening session during which I had seen my friends Arun Pathak and Sudheer Gaikwad who had the gift of music in abundance, exchanging quick glances of appreciation at certain points in the music that we were listening to, I asked both Arun and Sudheer, what they hear that I don’t, Arun, who took my query seriously, thought about it and came back to me after a few days and suggested that to increase my listening ability, each time I listen to a rock album I should listen to only one of the instruments, so at the first listen, I could perhaps, carefully listen only to the bass guitar, then next, listen only to the drums; next, listen only to the lead guitar and then listen to them all together and check out how they relate to each other. 
     Seeing the whole picture. This method - not easy to do - worked. It helped me listen to rock music with greater awareness. I learned to give the music my full attention; I focused on the qualities of individual sounds and began to notice things which were not immediately obvious. 

     Seeing and Unseeing -- Listening to jazz and classical music however, is different from listening to rock music. In rock music one listens to bands comprising of an average of three to five musicians, and the arrangements of the music and the compositions themselves follow certain basic patterns. There were exceptions of course. But generally, a Rock band had four or five instruments including the singer, whereas a symphony orchestra could have hundred instrumentalists and a jazz band would usually have fifteen members, and unusually, eighteen members. However, the method of listening to rock music I had learned, laid the foundations of listening to all music. 

LISTENING TO CLASSICAL MUSIC -- To listen to classical music, one could apply the same method as listening to rock or pop music, but our listening canvas would be on a grander scale, especially when listening to a symphony orchestra.

     When listening to an orchestra with so many sets of instruments, one can listen to each group of instruments separately as we learned to do in rock music, but it is not recommended, because classical composers create intricate, interconnected melodies, harmonies, and dynamics to convey powerful feelings and create astral atmospherics of beauty.

     Classical music, unlike pop music, may not pop out at us with a catchy tune, or captivating lyrics. Classical works deal with complex and subtle emotions and tend to be a deeper, more sustained experience to a listener.

     Transformation of themes and their return. To get the greatest amount of pleasure out of listening to a classical piece of music by an orchestra, or a chamber music group, we should try to identify the different groups of instruments and how they sound.

     We’ve got to listen to harmonies and tone colours of the whole orchestra.

     We’ve got to listen and recognise themes that are being played and how the themes are passed around to the many instrument groupings, and how they are being transformed and how they return to the original themes. 

     Explore and expand our zone of pleasure. As we continue listening to classical music, we will expand our musical horizons and explore various styles, genres, and performances.

     Classical music has stood the test of time due to its long-lasting allure and emotional resonance. In time, as we listen and understand what words like sonata, nocturne, etude, prelude are, and, that these musical forms and genres are typically instrumental, we will marvel at the remarkable skills of the composers and performers and, we will enjoy every nuance and complexity of the music. Once we’ve found the pleasure of classical works, it’s unlikely that we would ever lose that appreciation.

LISTENING TO JAZZ -- Jazz is a complex and highly technical art form that is largely Instrumental music.  Jazz experiments with various scales, and unusual chord progressions and harmonies. And, it is played by highly proficient, advanced musicians.      

      A major part of jazz is improvisation; the spontaneous invention of melodic solo lines composed on the spot within the overall structure of the song.

      A precise characterization of jazz is impossible, but I’ll have a go at describing what sets Jazz apart:

     The sound of Jazz itself, is unusual. Jazz uses highly complex chords, and  deliberate dissonances. Jazz melodies have some curiously flattened notes within the composition called ‘blue’ notes. 

     Jazz has the feeling of the Blues. Blues is a genre of music which has a blues tonality, a melancholy, reflective sound due to a unusual blues scale which has dissonant notes which give it emotional impact. The Blues genre is foundational to jazz. Jazz is not jazz without the blues in it. 

     Improvisation is the spontaneous part within the structure of a song, and is the heart and soul of jazz. it’s the space in the written and arranged music for a soloist or sequence of soloists, whether vocal or instrumental to improvise within the melody and structure of the song. 

     And lastly, in this description, jazz swings -- Jazz has a propulsive rhythm that makes you sway and swing, rather than rock back and forth. Jazz swings – just like the Duke Ellington song title says, “It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing”. 

     The structure of jazz bands – Big Bands usually have a rhythm section which include a piano, bass, guitar and drums, and a horn section, which is typically five Saxophones -- sax players often double on clarinet and flute. Four Trumpets, and Four Trombones. Small Jazz ensembles, often called Jazz combo’s, typically have drums, acoustic bass, piano, trumpet and sax. Moreover, there are piano trios, quartets, quintets, sextets, octets nonets which have different configurations of instruments. 

     Listening to jazz is very different from listening to Rock and Pop, and very different from listening to Western classical music. In Rock and Pop music, song lyrics put across an idea or story which an audience relate to. In jazz, the improvised solos communicate an emotion or a musical idea. Good solos tell a story.  Western classical music has no room for improvisation. 

     Plunge into the moment and listen actively. A listener of jazz listens to a piece of music and takes in the unique sound of jazz, and hears the individualistic interpretation of a song that jazz musicians impart to the melody, the harmony, and the rhythm of the song.

     Listen to the melody and the variations. We will hear how the musicians add some variation to the melody at the first repetition of it, we will then hear how the musicians keep adding variations to the theme and we will hear them invent melodies on the fly while they improvise and innovate. 

     Notice the emotional range conveyed through improvisation. The ebb and flow of dynamics. Notice the interplay between musicians while they converse. Each performance by jazz musicians is a conversation -- not only with them and the audience, but also amongst themselves.

     Flights of imagination - To listen to Jazz is to listen to the great technical prowess and flights of imagination by the musicians. To create and make good their inventive imagination, soloists have to have the technical ability to make  their instruments do what they have to. 

     Music is an antidote to entropy -- Listening is something everyone can do. Just like learning the words of a popular song, you listen over and over. Repetition creates familiarity and comfort, and allows us to listen again to parts of the music we may not have heard fully, or understood when we heard it before. Everything comes together, and the structure of musical compositions upholds a balance that defies the natural tendency toward disorder.  Active listening enlivens us so that we savour more than the general outline of a performance. Every time we listen, we will hear something we hadn’t heard before, and that makes jazz such an enjoyable experience.  

Is the Juice Worth the Squeeze? For those of us who have to learn to listen to music, the practice outlined is valid. It works. Most musicians who have the inherent gift of music, usually hear everything in the music without the effort others like me had to commit to in the beginning; but the achievement it is worth the time. We enjoy listening to absorbing and compelling music like jazz and Indian and western classical music just as much as advanced musicians do. Indeed, we get all the juice out of the music. And the juice is definitely worth the squeeze!

https://highnotesdance.blogspot.com/2024/07/why-is-jazz-not-popular-like-pop-music.html
https://highnotesdance.blogspot.com/2023/10/jazz-music-is-like-good-conversation.html
https://highnotesdance.blogspot.com/2021/04/elements-of-music.html
https://highnotesdance.blogspot.com/2018/10/an-orchestra-is-holarchy.html
https://highnotesdance.blogspot.com/2018/10/the-orchestra-conductors-instrument.html\
https://highnotesdance.blogspot.com/2016/08/why-we-love-blues-bb-king.html
https://highnotesdance.blogspot.com/2016/07/the-comfort-and-joy-of-music.html

https://highnotesdance.blogspot.com/2026/08/the-magic-of-music-part-1.html

THE MAGIC OF MUSIC -- Part 1

GETTING THE MOST OUT OF LISTENING TO MUSIC

On 21^st June at a World Music Day celebration, my friends Sagari, Mondira, and Shakila spoke about how music has the ability to create harmony and fellowship amongst all of us. And how music fulfils and enlivens all of us and connects us all to each other. 

Their words are so true -- music is a lovely form of magic. It is the magic that can move us, soothe us and make us happy. Music is the magic that can take our minds off everything else and give soul to our day.

Sharing the ‘magic of music’ -- Personally, good music is my mood medicine and relief. Yet, I am just a listener of music. I don’t have the gift, or that special musical ability to make and perform music, nor do I have the determination and dedication to engage in an artistic pursuit as complex as music, which is what all true musicians have in addition to their inherent talent and their ‘gift’ of music. Dedicated musicians determinedly and continually explore the vast universe of music and systematically refine and advance their musical proficiency with regular practice.    

My gifts which could be considered useless in the mundane business of life, are, empathy, and a more than adequate aesthetic sensibility; enough to be deeply moved by art and design, music and dance, poetry, literature and also by nature and the natural world. In addition, I do have a good ear for music and am an attentive, active listener and relish compositional excellence and artistic merit in music and art.

Experiencing the joy and the magic of Music -- I listen to Jazz and Blues, Western Classical music, and Indian Classical music, both Carnatic and Hindustani with equal enjoyment. Regional traditional and folk music of India enthrals me, like Baul music of Bengal, and Manganyar music of Rajasthan, and the Monpa music of Arunachal Pradesh, and the traditional music of Nagaland as rendered by the Tetseo sisters and the music of various regions of India and Nepal brought so beautifully to life by Arko Mukherjee. Fabulous Sufi music from all over the world – from Punjab, Sindh and Iran. The music of Cote de Ivoire, Mali, Morocco, Algeria and other countries of the African continent and the unusual melodies, harmonies and intricate rhythms of Bulgarian choral music. Indeed, I like all choral music, and vocal harmony. However, Pop (popular) music seldom holds my interest, yet, every so often one comes across some very beautiful pop melodies and lyrics that make our hearts sing -- good songs are good songs and good music is good music regardless of the genre. 

Music helps us transcend the banality of the everyday -- There’s a lot of music waiting to be listened to if we open ourselves to listening to all music without setting boundaries to our ears.

We can open the connection of music with our inner and external selves and for a brief period of time transcend and ascend from the banality of the everyday to a higher plane and allow ourselves to hear music that fills our senses and takes us on journeys where the sound-track of time, space and the universe will open to us.

Getting all the juice out of the music we listen to -- When we are open to music, we can listen to all music without any effort and get the utmost pleasure from doing so.

So, if you hear yourself saying, even to yourself, ‘I don’t like this kind of music, or that kind of music’, this is essay is for you.

I would like to share the magic of music, so those of us who don’t have that special gift of music, can open our ears and listen to all music without prejudice and enjoy every bit of music, and delight in, and experience, all its magic.  

Those who have the gift of music, already have the ability to listen attentively, depending on the level of their talent, whether they are amateurs, advanced amateurs, professionals or advanced professionals, and even these levels have subdivisions amongst them, or, every musician would be a Stevie Wonder, or Bobby McFerrin, or Esperanza Spalding.    

LISTENING TO MUSIC -- “Music is a world within itself; it’s a language we all understand” ~ Stevie Wonder.

Listening to music could be learnt, so, to really get the most out of music; if you want music to infiltrate your body and mind, all you need is an open mind and the serenity to listen and let the music weave its spell.

All we need to do is feel and allow ourselves to feel -- Helene Grimaud, a gifted classical pianist in an interview which I have paraphrased a little, said, “People say, they don’t know anything about classical music (or jazz), so they don’t listen to it. But you don’t have to know anything about music to listen to it. Knowledge doesn’t increase anticipation or enjoyment of music; all we need to do is feel and allow ourselves to feel”.    

“Classical music (and jazz) are rich forms of music from which we can get so much pleasures and surprises, both are demanding and both don’t offer instant gratification. Both types of music require investment from the listener; we can’t sit passively and expect it to wash over us. The more intensively we listen; the more actively we listen, the more we get out of it. When you listen you experience something that engenders emotion. In yourself and others. So, when you listen to music and relate to it, you can listen to it hundreds of times”.

Music requires investment from the listener. Here are a few prerequisites to cultivating the ability of listening to music.

You should want to listen to music with all your heart and soul -- If you choose to do this, you will grasp and sense the music you are listening to, and appreciate how gifted performers put their heart and soul into the music which they create and share with the world.

Free yourself from the limitations of your mind -- Another prerequisite – free yourself from the limitations of your mind and surrender to the spirit of sound. Once you elect to open your mind to the idea of listening, your mind will be liberated and you will hear music that will warm your heart and lift your soul.

Active listening -- What we discovered over years of listening to all kinds of music, and wish to share, is that to really listen to music, one has to ‘listen’ actively, rather than just ‘hearing’, which is passive listening. Good listening is active. We’ve got to pay attention to the music with the intention of truly appreciating the art, while passive listening is only just about hearing it. Active listening takes intense focus. It takes much more effort than passive listening, but is much more rewarding.

By listening attentively, the music will not sound like something we’re not used to, it will sound like what it is instead of what it’s not.

Previous posts about music: 
https://highnotesdance.blogspot.com/2024/07/why-is-jazz-not-popular-like-pop-music.html
https://highnotesdance.blogspot.com/2023/10/jazz-music-is-like-good-conversation.html
https://highnotesdance.blogspot.com/2021/04/elements-of-music.html
https://highnotesdance.blogspot.com/2018/10/an-orchestra-is-holarchy.html
https://highnotesdance.blogspot.com/2018/10/the-orchestra-conductors-instrument.html\
https://highnotesdance.blogspot.com/2016/08/why-we-love-blues-bb-king.html
https://highnotesdance.blogspot.com/2016/07/the-comfort-and-joy-of-music.html

LIFE IS A CABARET OLD CHUM, COME TO THE CABARET

Velvet Grind 02 is the second edition of an event series in Hyderabad hosted by Dark vibe society and George Hull Collective.

George Hull Collective

The musicians in the George Hull Collective: George on Saxophone. Nirvan on keyboards and arrangements, Isabelle on Cello, Keith on acoustic guitar, 3 bass guitar players were on stage at different times, most of the time it was Nigel Geiles, and at other points, Praharsha and Patrick Dempsey. Isabelle on Cello. Lead Guitar was Danny Geiles and on the drums, Kaivalya. Nathalie on Oboe. 

The Email messages said this: 

     Welcome back to where jazz lost its innocence. The room is darker this time. The brass is dirtier. The night has no interest in behaving itself. Note: Admission is strictly 21+. EXT · Dark Vibe Society · Alliance Française Hyderabad

     Some rooms change you a little. This is one of them. And this city has one night that doesn't get talked about loudly — you're looking at it. 
*The Velvet Grind — Edition 02.*

     There are evenings you endure. Then there are the rare ones that settle into you slowly — like good whiskey and bad decisions. Edition 01 was that night. This is its inevitable return.

     *George Hull Collective* brings the dirty jazz — never meant for polite company.

      *Beedi Break* layers in sounds with no passport and no apology. Between them, they will own the room.

     Amber light. Cold glass. A crowd that dresses with intention. This is not a night out. This is a rendezvous.

      Saturday, 11th April · 8:30 PM onwards*

      EXT by Moonshine Project, Hyderabad* 

     In association with Alliance Française Hyderabad 

     Hosted by Vaibhav Kumar Modi

This was the most intriguing and well written set of invitation messages to an event I’d ever received.

Dark vibes are not my thing, I like vibes to be light, airy and welcoming. But I like music, especially jazz, though I didn’t feel that jazz could be dirty or had any innocence to lose, so, I went, as the song ‘Cabaret’ inspired me to do: 

"What good is sitting alone in your room?
Come hear the music play.
Life is a Cabaret, old chum,
Come to the Cabaret.

Come taste the wine,
Come hear the band.
Come blow a horn, start celebrating;
Right this way, your table's waiting.

Shakila 

I didn’t venture into the cavernous dark and thronging space right away as I entered, so I stood near the entrance, right next to the sound console. And what a good place it was, the sound at this place was well balanced and I had a good view of the stage. And what I saw and heard on the stage was Shakila, 
commanding the room with her stage presence singing the first song of the evening. It is then that I realised why the messages I had been getting had said that this evenings’ show was only for adults.

The song Shakila sang was called ‘Sitting on You Face’, it was a raunchy, bawdy, more than sexually suggestive type of cabaret song that we could imagine being sung in those old honky-tonk music halls in old Cowboy movies. Anyway, Shakila delivered through this song, the feel of a cabaret, singing and storytelling with easy flair. It was a tour de force performance of a mediocre song that wouldn’t touch the top 1000 in any list. But Shakila brought vitality to this obscure song through personal interpretation and tongue-in-cheek emotional expression.

The next song that Shakila sang, six songs later, at the end of the first half/session was another suggestive, humorously indecent song called ‘Just Stroke It’, which she also sang with expressive good humour and control. Neither of the songs Shakila sang was jazz, though George Hull’s tenor saxophone and Nirvan’s keyboard playing and good arrangement of the music made it seem so.

Nathalie

The next singer was Nathalie, singing, ‘I Want to Come Again’. Nathalie who plays Oboe and usually sings in French, sang this song in English and did a rousing job of it, singing with elan; she probably sang the song better than the original, as Shakila did her two songs.

Nathalie was then joined by Julie and they sang a French Carla Bruni song called ‘Quelqu'un m'a dit’. The duo performed this good, sweet and evocative song very well, we liked it even though we didn’t understand the words.

Julie 

Julie, whom we had never heard before, sang a song called ‘I’ll Give You a happy ending’, An unremarkable, mildly suggestive ‘pop type’ of song that even Julie’s agreeable voice couldn’t make better, but she made a good attempt.

Nathan   Malini

Malini

Malini and Nathan sang a duet called ‘Horny Angry Tango’, and made a valiant attempt to dance some basic tango moves while singing, despite the fact that both of the singers have good voices and can sing well, for this song, they lacked conviction.  Yet they deserve a high five for making a serious attempt to pull off this short but interesting song that uses the tango type of music to express the desire two ex-lovers still have for each other.  

Nathan had two more songs in the programme ‘The Doggie Style’ for which he was joined by Keertana.

Nathan Keertana

Nathan also a sang ‘Supernova’ an electro pop, disco-type song. Versatile Nathan has nice pipes, a natural talent for music and enjoys being on stage singing to an audience which seems to like him as well. With time he will find his best genre of music to perform.

Suparna

Suparna, who sang two songs in the programme, was, and is, one of the singers who left a deep impression. She sang the tritest of songs like ‘Split Me in Two’, which was the first of the two songs she sang which was mildly suggestive but not explicit (to go with the adult theme of the evening), with a naturalness of interpretation that was very individual, and a ‘feel’ that was very mature.

The next song that Suparna sang to open the second session of music was ‘How Does It Feel’, probably an R&B song, which was sympathetically arranged by the George Hull Collective around her way of singing, and Suparna sang this with such heartfelt expression that I felt grateful for being in the audience and getting to listen to her, she made a song that I’d never heard before, sound good. Suparna is an intelligent, thinking singer who would perhaps, one day, hopefully, take to singing jazz.

Ashok Verghese

Before I come to Keertana, we will touch upon a great experience we in the audience had in listening to Ashok Verghese performing Bill Withers ‘Use Me’.

Besides choosing this fabulous song by Bill Withers, Ashok sang ‘Use Me’ admirably, and with good taste. He was helped by the most appropriate arrangement and accompaniment by the George Hull Collective, which brought out the best in the singer and the song.

Keertana

And now Keertana: I must admit I’ve have seen and heard Keertana before (mostly on YouTube) and always enjoy the sheer joy she brings to making music. Keertana is so joyous in her approach, her movement, her confidence, that she is compelling, whether she sings a silly song like ‘Big Cock Back’, or the better known songs she sang, like the disco funk, ‘Monkey Business’, and the pop-soul-funk song ‘You Had Me’. Not only does she generate good vibes with the audience, she also inspired the arranger, it could be Nirvan, to create a wonderful funky rhythm for her to perform to. Nirvan was also inspired to play a playful, melodic and inventive jazz-like keyboard solo. 

Nathalie 

One of the songs also had an ethereal, atmospheric vocal without words by Nathalie to accompany Keertana, the arrangement lifted the song to another level. In the songs Keertana sang, the band was cooking, dleivering smoking hot backing that made the audience dance, which they did.    

An item in the programme was a Hoedown, in which all the musicians who played or sang on stage, sang or recited a verse of their own making to a particular hoedown rhythm format. Most of the verses were too adolescent to be recited to a paying audience, though the musicians had fun doing so. Keith who played acoustic guitar was the only exception; his verse was actually witty. And while on Keith, it must be mentioned that he does not play lead guitar with this band because Danny, yes Danny, the wonder kid is there, so, in Keith’s accompanying acoustic guitar -- whether he’s comping behind the music, or just playing the rhythm -- his choice of chords and how he plays them is remarkably tasteful and appropriate to the music.

All the performers -- Keith - Nirvan - George - Isabelle - Keertana - Suparna - Julie - Malini - Nathan - Patrick - Shakila - Nathalie - Kaivalya - Danny - Nigel behind Suparna - Praharsha behind Julie - Ashok behind Malini

Vaibhav Kumar Modi

It was a fun evening of mostly good music, and we mustn’t forget that the emcee of the evening was the organiser Vaibhav Kumar Modi and he was such a good emcee, good humoured, always saying the right thing in the nicest possible way about the music and musician he was introducing. He was never not classy and he was equally important to the good atmosphere of the evening as the musicians were. 

 

 

Photographs: Wolfgang Jastrowski

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‘GOOD TIME MUSIC’ ALL THE WAY

FRANCOPHONE GROOVE

When George Hull asked me to write about this programme conducted by Alliance Française Hyderabad (AFH), and organised by him, on the 14^th of March 2026, he urged me not to hold back criticism. But that couldn’t happen, because I had given myself up to the 'good time music’, and enjoyed every moment of the music which rocked Alliance Francaise with energy and good cheer. In such a situation what is there to criticise?! 

It was an evening of an unusual collection of music, beginning with classical music and going on to pop, folk, rock, blues, soul and hint of jazz.

The programme started with Nathalie Soulie  on Oboe, Isabelle Lendvai on Cello, and Ritu Gopal on Violin playing the haunting, lyrical melody of ‘Pavane’. Pavane was originally an orchestral work by the influential French composer Gabriel Fauré, but this evening Pavane was played by this unusual trio of instruments and they carried it off well. 

The trio next played ‘Duo des Fleurs’ The Flower Duet, from Léo Delibes' opera Lakmé. In the opera it is a vocal duet, but the musicians adapted it to be an instrumental.     

The Trio of Nathalie on Oboe, Isabelle on Cello, and Ritu on Violin then played another work by Gabriel Fauré ‘Berceuse’, this gentle and serene piece was originally arranged for solo violin and piano but was later arranged for various combinations and this arrangement was for oboe, violin, and cello. 

Nathalie then sang the French song 'Ensemble' by Jean-Jacques Goldman, 
accompanied by the George Hull Collective which is George Hull on the tenor saxophone, Praharsha on Bass, Kaivalya on drums, Danny Geiles Lead guitar, and Keith D’Rosario on Rhythm Guitar and Ritu on violin. Nathalie generated smiles in the audience and good audience participation in this song.

The 5^th item in the programme was Malini who with such a delightfully sweet voice sang a heartbreakingly pretty folk pop song by The Weepies called 'They’re in Love – Where am I'. Malini was accompanied by the George Hull collective.  

The sixth performer was again Nathalie, she sang ‘Sympathique’ - a French chanson by American band Pink Martini in which the chorus is “I don’t want to work, I don’t want to lunch, I only want to forget and so I smoke”, Natalie was backed by the George Hull collective,

Hima in a black gown and arm sleeves charmed and engaged us singing the Stacey Kent version of the Brazilian French samba, ‘Samba Saravah’. The warm tone of George’s saxophone added to Hima’s pleasing vocal lent a completeness of the piece.  

Patrick Dempsey, not the movie star, but a Hyderabad resident, turned up the heat with a lively, spirited and countrified version of the prolific Chicago Blues songwriter, bassist and bluesman Willie Dixon’s, ‘Feel like Steppin’ Out’. Patrick sang the song while playing the Upright electric bass. The music was infectious and The George Hull Collective seemed to be in their element and ‘in the groove’ as they accompanied Patrick in this song.

Ninth in the programme was the versatile singer Keertana and featured Nathaniel in duet, they sang the ‘Best Part’, which was written by Matthew Burnett, H.E.R. (Gabriella Wilson) and Daniel Caesar, both the singers sang this difficult, emotionally charged, romantic R&B ballad rather well.

Keertana was in her element singing the modern Tamil romantic pop anthem ‘Adiye’. As she announced, it was her first time singing in Tamil, but she sang it really well, adding her own rock inspired individuality to the song, taking it to another musical dimension. 

Shakila Dausi and the George Hull Collective took the stage next to sing the powerful and funky soul song, ‘Dig a Little Deeper’, 

Shakila, with ease, took on the persona of the wise Mama Odie, the character from the animated feature film The Princess and the Frog. I don’t know why this song with music and lyrics by Randy Newman has not won any awards anywhere -- no Grammy, no Oscar, no nothing, because it is an iconic, powerful song. And Shakila, and the chorus comprising Hima and Malini, put her whole heart and soul into the song. (I have been forgetting to mention that Hima and Malini have been taking the stage to sing harmonies for many of the singers). 

Next in the programme we had the talented guitar player Danny Geiles, an internationally known YouTube star since he was probably 10 years old. Danny along with the George Hull Collective played the beautiful Bobby Womack instrumental composition ‘Breezin’, that has become a fusion jazz standard. Danny did the George Benson version, displaying very good technique and feel for jazz.

Nathalie performed once again, this time the catchy 1969 French-language song ‘Les Champs-Elysées’, by the American singer Joe Dassin. The chorus says, you’ll find anything you’d like on the Champs-Élysées. And again Nathalie with her sunny personality, got enthusiastic audience participation which always makes everybody, performers and the audience happy.

The last singer on the programme was Suparna who preceded her song by saying “The Palestinian poet Marwan Makoul once wrote; If you want me to write something that is not political, I need to listen to the birds. I can only hear the birds when the airplanes stop.    This I thought, was the perfect preamble to the song she was about to sing, ‘Imagine’, by John Lennon -- a hymn for a more compassionate and equitable world without war, religion, borders, or greed, and where humanity lives in peace and shares the planet equally. Suparna with Ritu on violin, rendered this sweet melody, this musical embodiment of peace, unity, and hope with conviction that could inspire each one of us to develop our humanity and connect equitably with our own and with other species.  

‘Imagine’ was a fitting end to a wonderful evening of music where everybody had a good time and left us in the audience entertained and yet, thoughtful. However, it didn’t end there, Nathalie brought an end to the programme with an encore, a French song in which the audience once again participated.

Anyway, what’s important is that everybody had a good time and we must thank Maud Miquau, 

the director of Alliance Francaise, and coordinator Jwalitha, who conceived of Francophone Groove along with George Hull and made this happen. 

We must also acknowledge George Hull for his quiet, unflustered and efficient organising skills, for making this evening happen and also for the band, George Hull Collective.

Photographs: Wolfgang Jastrowski

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