World music concert in Mumbai

Tabla player Talvin Singh, keyboardist Abhijit Pohankar and flautist Rakesh Chaurasia form a new trio for world music at a concert on Saturday.
While getting heady during the revelry during New Year's Eve, classical keyboardist Abhijit Pohankar and tabla player Talvin Singh were discussing their set for their upcoming concert on Saturday.
Abhijit and Talvin will join flautist Rakesh Chaurasia, forming a fresh combo that will perform a funky version of Indian classical music.The trio will play at Teen Prahar, a concert which features three diverse genres - Carnatic, Hindustani and world music.
Joining this new trio on stage will be Ganesh Kumaresh, the duo who will joust with the violin. And the headlining act for the evening is sarod players Ustad Aashish Khan and his father Ustad Ali Akbar Khan.
"We were at Hariharnji's farmhouse celebrating New Year's. It was a party full of musicians and everyone including Zakirji was there. Talvin and me decided that we should perform a bit of classical music first with a little modifications and then fuse our different influences later, at the concert," says Abhijit Pohankar.
The keyboardist is the only musician on his level that plays classical ragas on the keyboard. Experimenting with his music, he has now built an array of different symphonic sounds that blend into Hindustani ragas. This unique melody will meet Talvin's bouquet of electronic rhythms that he has collected during his long drum 'n' bass career in England.
Rakesh Chaurasia seems to be the one that will hold the trio together. Having worked with Abhijit recently on a 17-city tour of the States and with Talvin a pure classical album and world music concerts; Rakesh knows both their styles well. "You need to know the person with who you are playing with.
Once that happens music does not have a language, it can just flow freely. You can hear it as the audience. If a certain comfort level is absent, it sounds like a musician is doing his duty, the music will not blend well," says Rakesh.
It is this comfort level the trio is banking on. It's less than a week before the concert but they haven't rehearsed together nor have they decided what music they will play. In fact the only time they will meet together now is on stage. "We are planning to do an early soundcheck. We'll decide everything then. After all, we classical musicians thrive on improvisation," smiles Abhijit.
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