NITIN SAWHNEY Acoustic Evening 28 May, Esplanade Concert Hall, 7.30pm
To be honest, I’d never heard of British-Indian musician Nitin Sawhney until I was scanning the Singapore Arts Festival programme trying to figure out which event I was interested to review. At the end of Sawhney’s concert, that was changed and I’m glad for it.
Not initially though. At first, I was gripped by a potent sense of irony that a mere fraction of the audience at the Esplanade Concert Hall would be attending the B-Quartet gig at the Home Club at the very same time. It was hard to shake the feeling that as good as Swahney and band were, that the likes of our very own Observatory, Stoned Revivals and B-Quartet were equally talented (or possessed the potential to be) as Sawhney and band but in current circumstances would never be invited to play in the hallowed Concert Hall or draw such enthusiasm and acclaim that the audience poured out last night.
Don’t get me wrong, not that Sawhney did not deserve such fawning. On the contrary, although the concert started a little tepidly – with rather lacklustre jazz-pop songs laced with cliched Indian musical undertones, as the set list developed, the material and performances became stronger and stronger. By the end, I was truly amazed by what was achieved before my eyes (and ears) as a multitude of textures and nuances were evoked by only a classical guitar (Sawhney), cello (Danny Keane), Bansuri flute (Ashwin Srinivasin), drums (Martyn Kaine), tabla/dholak (Aref Durvesh) and four vocalists (Lucita Jules, Nikki Wells, Tina Grace and Srinivasin).
Sawhney is adept at combining diverse musical genres into a pleasing whole – Indian, flamenco, Brazilian, hip hop, jazz pop were imaginatively delivered in a chamber setting that was exciting and inspirational. Songs like Nadia, Distant Dreams and Homelands resonated in the Concert Hall before the rapt audience. Swahney also demonstrated social and political conscience in his music as songs like Immigrant and Days of Fire commented on current events in England. In respect of his individual performance, it should be noted that Sawhney himself is an accomplished guitarist, well-versed in classical and flamenco styles but what was impressive was Sawhney’s ability to play the guitar like a sitar, this was especially evident in Prophecy, the encore piece.
I could not help to consider that there was more irony in store as here I was watching a man who had experienced racism growing up in England where on our own shores, a certain kind of prejudice is deep-seated within our very own countrymen against Singaporean musicians/artists. Certainly, like mentioned before, there are bands/artists who would warrant and deserve the kind of attention and acclaim that Sawhney received last night here in Singapore but the mere fact that they are Singaporean prevents such a response. You might consider this an extreme statement but to me, that is just as evil as judging a person based on race, gender or sexual preference. I long for the day when a Singapore band/artists plays a sold out show at the Esplanade Concert Hall – the Singapore government has worked very hard to achieve the goal of making Singapore a vibrant global city but in my humble opinion, this would be incomplete without a thriving music scene.
If you want to know more about the Singapore bands and artists I’m talking about – please visit www.powerofpop.com. More info about the excellent Nitin Sawhney may be accessed at his official site.
Kevin Mathews
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Well said, Kevin. We have to start calling this prejudice against our own people “racism” to show people how ugly it is.
(While of course on the other hand being open to foreign ideas and influences, because we don’t wanna stagnate either.
)
Comment by Ng Yi-Sheng May 29, 2010 @ 1:33 pm