Gerard Sekoto (1913-1993): Yellow houses of Sophiatown (www.terminartors.com).

Indian classical and jazz musicians celebrate Mandela at St Mary’s

Maestro Deepak Ram will celebrate classical Indian composition with  bansuri flute and tabla player Manjeet Singh Rasiya at St Mary in the Castle next week. In the second half, they will also be accompanied by Terry Pack on double bass, Andy Williams on acoustic guitar and Nana Tsiboe on percussion for a memorable programme of jazz fusion that echoes a millennium concert given on Robben Island in honour of Nelson Mandela, writes HOT’s Chris Cormack.

Deepak Ram’s first love is North Indian classical music. He is an accomplished soloist, a delightful and captivating performer, combining technical mastery with personal charm. It was in 1981 that his dream was realized when he became the disciple of the celebrated flautist, Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia (with whom he continues to study from time to time). During this period he also studied tabla under Sri Yashwant Padhye and music theory and voice under Pandit Rajaram Shukla. The spiritual nature of Deepak’s purer classical music will be well recognised and appreciated by yoga enthusiasts, as for instance in Between Thoughts.

Deepak Ram’s family home in the Johannesburg suburb of Sophiatown was bulldozed, weeks after he was born, along with the whole town to segregate the people and disperse its multi-cultural diversity. Sophiatown was home to many of South Africa’s best jazz musicians. After he relocated to the all-Indian town of Lenasia, jazz had still left an indelible impression on Deepak and his family.

Deepak Ram

“Jazz and Indian music have one thing in common: improvisation. The first American musicians to respond to the earliest Indian musicians that came to the West were jazz musicians. Miles Davis and John Coltrane were drawn to the improvisation,” Deepak Ram explains. “In Indian music you explore a raga for a length of time following melodic convention within a set group of notes. But in jazz the set of notes moves all the time.”

Deepak is expected to play Madiba’s Dance, music he wrote specially for and dedicated to Nelson Mandela, at the millennium concert. Deepak says he  is known for his own special dance – he’s one of the few presidents who will stand in front of a crowd and dance. He felt very lucky to have played for Mandela at the millennium concert. He said: “I can think of no other loving leader like him. I was thinking of this powerful personality, his imprisonment, the struggle. People who wanted to kill him and tortured him and after 27 years in prison he comes out as this warm, loving, forgiving person. That’s what this piece is about to me.” The melody uses a kind of international folk scale, used in African music, but also in Japanese music.

Deepak recorded several John Coltrane compositions, including Naima and Impressions, on his 2008 album Steps, which includes many well-known jazz standards. The concert is presented as a partnership project between Reg Hendrickse and Respond Academy. Deepak Ram will also perform in Eastbourne at an educational workshop (6pm) and concert (7.30pm – classical Indian music only) on Friday 2 August at the Birley Centre, Eastbourne College, Old Wish Road. On 9 August he performs both classical and jazz fusion at the Unitarian Church, New Road, Brighton.

Saturday 27 July at St Mary in the Castle. Tickets £10, available in advance from: B +T Keyboards, Claremont; Hastings Respond Academy, Silchester Mews, St Leonards on Sea; or St Mary in the Castle.  

For further information, contact Respond Academy on 01424 718235 or Reg Hendrikse on 01424 250221. 

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