Edinburgh - December 2004
Fusion with Latin American band.
While pursuing an MSc in Finance & Investment at the University of Edinburgh (2004-05), I was fortunate to get an opportunity to get associated and perform with 'Voces Del Sur' - a Latin American folk band. The assocaition was a matter of luck. My friend Alan Tweedie had taken me to one of the band's performances in Edinburgh. The band comprised of Valentina Montoya-Martinez (the lead singer and guitarist), David Russel (the guitarist),Emma Smith (double-bass) and Edwardo (Latin American drums). Their music was enchanting, and I was enthralled to listen to them. They performed a wide range of music within a broad umbrella of Latin American folk styles, including chacareras, zambas, joropos, valses, Cuban son, Afro-Peruvian songs and cuecas, much of it based on music from the Chilean New Song Movement.
After the show, Alan introduced me to the band, when I was offered to try out a gig with the band, since Edwardo was to be away for a month. Tabla and Latin American music!!!..I thought worth giving a shot. The first rehersal went very well, and I was a part of the band for over a month!! Improvising to the groove of latin American music was a challenging and wonderful experience. The timing was excellent, since we had a two-week winter break. It was a great feeling peforming and blending with Latin American music...
Below is a photo from our show at the Roxy Theater, Edinburgh, Dec 2004. This show was covered by the daily newspaper 'Edinburgh News', which stated " The mix of Latin rhythms and Indian drums might sound bizarre, but works beautifully.....The Tabla are naturally associated with Indian music, but for at least one night, joined the ranks of Latin percussion. Bhatt found the groove and made it seem as though the drums were native to this music."
2 comments:
This is a very informative account of the most important ingradient of Indian classical music. It will help a lot to understand the impact of Indian music when you would out-line basic rhythm (Taal).Look forward to that.
Bipin Shah
Dear Rajiv....I have taken a look at your blog and are delighted that you have written about it. For me, those gigs at the Nektar were the happiest ones during my pregnancy and I enjoyed working with you very much. We have a different line up now and I am loving working with the band. Please check out www.myspace.com/vocesdelsur and you will be able to hear some of the tracks on our current Cd, which we recorded last summer.
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