Beches Brew’s concerts in India – grand success!!!
Posted 2016-01-04
On the morning of January 3 we gave our concert in Chennai together with the four marvelous Karnatic vidwans, V. Suresh – ghatam, N. Amrit – khanjeera, Akkarai Sornalatha – violin and J.B. Srutisagar – flute. It was a wonderful experience to make music together and we were all very satisfied. We thank Mr Y. Prabhu of Sri Krishna Gana Sabha for having us at this great venue and Karaikudi Mani Iyer for all help in setting it up. We are very happy that the Chennai concert audience, used to classical Karnatic music of the highest order, liked our music so much and most of all that the vidwans really enjoyed playing with us. We hope they will come to Sweden in October to play with us again. Thank you Chennai. Next stop Mumbai.
In Mumbai we played 5 concerts in as many days. In two of the concerts we had the honor of playing together with Pt. Nityanand Haldipur on bansuri and Pt. Sadanand Naimpalli on tabla. Starting off with the Pandit Taranath Centenary concert we then played at the True School of Music and at the Tata Institute of Social Studies where the audience were ecstatic:
“I would love to give two more quotes from us if you want to use. This we have send to media for coverage, first one from me and another from a student on campus. Please find below the same
1.”In a globalising world, Beches Brew gives a message of cohesion and harmony by bringing two wonderful worlds of musics together, the Swedish Jaaz and Indian Instrumental such as Tabla and Flute. Bengt Berger personifies this fusion with his mastery over jazz and Indian classicals” Prof. P.K. Shajahan, Dean, Students’ Affairs at TISS
2.”This delightful combination is a symbol of enthusiasm. This was one of the most mesmerising performances I have ever witnessed. The most beautiful thing was the energy and innovation they had which gives a positive message to the youth for possibilities ulimited.” Mr. Jackson Khumukcham, a PhD scholar and a music enthusiast in the campus”
Our Indian concerts ended with two gigs at The Blue Frog in Pune and Mumbai where we played for a happy night club audience. Jöns Jönsson and Anna Intemann filmed during the whole trip, some videos will turn up here soon.
The Swedes in Beches Brew India lineup: Staffan Svensson, trumpet – Max Schultz and Göran Klinghagen, guitars – Bengt Berger, drums – Mats Öberg, keys – Stefan Bellnäs, bass – Sir Thomas Jäderlund, saxophones and bass clarinet – Lise-Lotte Norelius, electronics and percussion – Sigge Krantz, sound.