Contemporary amalgamation of music

‘Roopa in Flux’ was a melting moment for the music of different genres as a small audience was overjoyed with a different kind of presentation as a part of the ‘Park New festival’ at Hyderabad. Roopa Mahadevan on the vocals, Anjna Swaminathan on violin, and Guy Mintus on the digital piano created an amalgamation of Rhythm & Blues (R&B) Soul, Hip Hop, Carnatic classical with Jazz elements resulting in the crowd asking for more.

Guy Mintus is a Jazz musician settled in New York but has spent his childhood in Israel, Iraq and Morocco. His training in ‘Makam’ tradition of Persian music has helped him to easily blend and integrate his musical thoughts with Indian raga system. Guy Mintus showed his prowess in the rendition of rhythms also due to his training from tabla teacher Samir Chatterjee in New York. He could easily match the ‘Konnakol/Padhanth’(recitation of percussion syllables) with other artistes and create a beautiful flow of sounds.

Roopa Mahadevan has a powerful voice and it was equally complemented by Anjna Swaminathan on violin as all artistes grooved into Gandhiji’s Bhajan “Raghupati Raghava Raja Ram” in a manner, which could remind us of an equally diverse rendition of the same by ‘Osibisa’ band many years ago. The artistes showed exemplary camaraderie on and off stage, which truly got reflected in the performance applauded by a standing ovation.