Credit: Nadir Siddiquiin / Broad Green Pictures
In late 2013, I wrote here about an unlikely story.
A Youtube clip of Dave Brubeck’s “Take Five,” as recorded by the Sachal Jazz Ensemble in Lahore, Pakistan, had gone viral, attracting nearly a half-million hits. Soon after, the Sachal ensemble’s “Take Five,” from its recording “Interpretations of Jazz Standards and Bossa Nova,”shot to the top of the iTunes chart in the U.S. and U.K.
As I wrote then: Continue reading “Lost Pakistani Roots Rediscovered: "Song of Lahore" Tells the Story of the Sachal Jazz Ensemble”
From Lahore to Lincoln Center: Jazz from Pakistan
The first thing you see and hear in a YouTube clip of Dave Brubeck’s “Take Five,” as recorded by the Sachal Jazz Ensemble in Lahore, Pakistan, is Ballu Khan breaking the song’s familiar five-beat meter into furiously quick subdivisions on tabla, the hand drums endemic to Hindustani classical music. Cut to Indrajit Roy-Chowdhury, seated cross-legged atop a small wooden table, stating and then elegantly bending the melody; next, bearded men, clad in spotless white kurtas, sitting straight-backed on chairs and playing violins and cellos. In 2011, that YouTube video went viral, attracting nearly a half-million hits. Soon after, the Sachal Ensemble’s “Take Five,” from its recording “Interpretations of Jazz Standards and Bossa Nova,” shot to the top of the iTunes chart in the U.S. and U.K.
When the Sachal Ensemble joins the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (JLCO) at Manhattan’s Rose Theater on November 22 and 23, the concerts will deepen a recent collaboration and extend an unlikely journey. Read my feature story here.