The crowd called out for more and the musicians readily obliged on the first night of the BuJazzO's eight-city tour of India in the country's IT capital Bangalore. The packed audience was mesmerized by a unique mix of compositions played by the young German jazz musicians and leading exponents of South Indian music.

The auditorium resonated to an interesting alchemy of Indian and Western instruments, including the mridang, the thavil, the piano, the guitar and the saxophone.

"I have never heard such music," said an ecstatic Kumar Pandey. "It is perfect symphony and we should encourage these experiments more."

The performance began with "Mister Mani" that was composed and sung by Ramamani, a distinguished Indian Carnatic vocalist who has long experimented with Western forms of music and has composed several experimental pieces. This was followed by "City Life" by Louis Banks, another piece by Ramamani called "Sweet 17" and "17 Cross" by the late saxophonist Charlie Mariano.

A unique experience

The concert series in eight Indian cities is the result of a two-week workshop in Germany where the young jazz musicians interacted and rehearsed with the Indian artists to get a better understanding of south Indian Carnatic singing and rhythm. And the tour could not have gotten off to a better start.

This also was the opinion of the Indian musicians touring with the young Germans, including Ramamami. "This has been a truly unique experience," she said. "It has been a dream so far to perform with talented musicians who are mostly under 24."

"The energy is incredible," said Rosemarie Moizisch from the Bonn-based German Music Council. "Look at the improvisation while playing jazz, it is going to get better as the tour progresses!"

Creating something new

Mike Herting, a composer and the BuJazzO's conductor, said the collaboration between the musicians was an "honorable long-term attempt at creating something new out of Indian and Western culture."

And Ulrich Adomeit, one of the organizers, pointed out that it was all quite new for the German youth jazz orchestra, which began its career in former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl's office with a performance of swing-era standards, and whose repertoire today includes contemporary music, free jazz and big band music.

"The band has given over 400 concerts, undertaken 15 international tours and produced numerous broadcast recordings. But this experience of India has been quite different," Adomeit said.

Celebrating the 60th anniversary of Indo-German diplomatic ties, the Year of Germany and India 2011 - 2012 will see a　series of cultural events spread over the year.

Author: Murali Krishnan
Editor: Anne Thomas