“In seven years what we liked about India is the diversity of culture”- Monsoon Duo

The magic of Monsoon Duo left the audiences spell bounded and proved the statement that music is universal language true. Their first every performance in Shimla won many hearts and left their audience spell bounded.

It is often said the music is a universal language and same was experience at the historic Gaiety Theatre, the Mall Shimla, in a musical concert – Canadian Voices- Celebrating Canadian Creativity, organized by Consulate General of Canada, Chandigarh on March 14.

In the concert the famous Monsoon Duo – Canada based Indo-jazz music group were see performing and winning the hearts of the audiences. The Monsoon Duo consists of Jonathan Kay (tenor, soprano saxophones) and Andrew Kay (alto saxophone, percussion). The group is inspired by jazz musician John Coltrane, who was deeply influenced by Indian music and during their performance they performed the famous piece “India”.

“It has been seven years when we came to India to learn the Indian Classical music. We have been trained in Jazz music but wanted to learn the India Classical Music too in its pure form”, informed Monsoon Duo.

Currently both brothers are learning North Indian classical music in Kolkata, under the famous vocalist Guru Pandit Shantanu Bhattacharya. It was their first performance in Shimla as they shared, “Though we have travelled many times through Shimla but this is our first performance. We love this place for its scenic beauty and wish to perform here again if ever given an opportunity.”

“In seven years what we liked about India is the diversity of culture. Each state has something new to offer. It is always like a new world if we travel which we often do. Other than that we also enjoy the variety of food especially Punjabi and South India”, they shared further.

When on one hand Indians are drifting away from their music Monsoon Duo has spent seven years learning it as they shared, “No doubt we do find India classical music bit hard to learn as it is not something that we have grown up learning. However, we feel there is lot of scope of experimenting and fusion so we took up getting trained in this form. The names of various Ragas are difficult to remember but we are getting along with them now.”

Music is often consider being the refection of one’s inner thoughts and while performing the inner joy of the musicians came out in a form of smile on their faces while performing. Though the musicians were playing classical music but still it seemed that they were not alien to it which made listeners too go in trance.

However due to bad weather the concert failed to fetch spectators in large number. The majority of spectators comprised of Auckland House School students and even foreigners were seen enjoying the show.

While commenting on the concert Madan Kumar, a classical music lover said, “It was an amazing show. I did not feel that it was being played by someone who does not belong to this nation. They played it so well that how the time flew by I did not even realize it. I feel that it is a lesson for our people who are drifting away to western music that even they find scope in Indian music which is looked down upon by the youngsters.”

“I enjoyed the fusion part most rather than Raga as I am also a big fan of John Coltrane and I really like the way they created the artificial sounds that we hear in any natural place. It was a wonderful evening I can say and wish to have more such evenings in the future too”, expressed Anil Sharma, a college student.

The way musicians used Ghungroo was an amazing site; to produce the sound effect in the music piece India.