All About The Music

Who: Victor Wooten featuring Prasanna, Bangalore Amrit, Dr. Karthick

Where: Shanmukhanada Hall, Sion, Mumbai

When: 08 April 2010

There are certain times when your whole foundation is shaken, your entire understanding of the world turns on its head and you mock yourself asking where you were all these years.

You know, like the first time you went trekking outdoors, read a Wodehouse or, more recently, attended the Victor Wooten concert.

Equally stunning were the other musicians on stage - Carnatic guitar virtuouso Prasanna, and percussionists Bangalore Amrit on the Khanjira  and Dr. Karthick on Ghatam. Granted, these aren’t ‘sexy’ or ‘methcul’ instruments. Unlikely to have you screaming your smoked lungs out and  yell ‘Oh fuck yeaaaaah!’. But when two sandalwood-paste adorned, mundu-wearing traditional Indian percussionists leaves a crowd full of the who’s who of Indian Indie open mouthed, giving a standing ovation, and asking for more, you know you’re seeing something special.

But woah, woah, woah, I can hear you say, why aren’t you talking about the man of the day? Quite right. So let’s rewind.

Now I’m ashamed to admit I actually hadn’t heard of Wooten before a friend told me. Of course, our generation’s quick fix solution.

(Wikipedia + YouTube + official site) took care of that. For those who don’t know, Victor is one of the world’s most respected bass players, gaining popularity with the jazz fusion band Béla Fleck and the Flecktones.

I came in (to the quite nice and spacious Shanmukhananda Hall) when he was still answering questions from the crowd (I hear from reliable sources that the workshop was quite kickass) and just loved his sense of humour (Why’d you wanna play power chords on the bass? You’re gonna get a lot of guitarists pissed off, man!) and his appreciation of music. Sample this (paraphrased):

So now you’ve asked me a lot of questions about technique, slapping, tapping, harmonics, and all that. Lemme ask you something now. Define music, in one word.

(audience: Joy, happiness, love, emotion, expression…)

Yeah. Everywhere in the world I go, I ask this question, and get the same answers everywhere. Y’notice, not one of you said music was about technique, slapping, tapping…

The humility of the man, his ‘oneness’ with music, his calling his bass guitar ‘just a piece of wood, man’ just endeared him to the audience used to seeing inflated egos and showmen on stage. Refreshing.

Tanmay from everyone’s favourite jam band, Something Relevant introduced the complete ensemble and those who’ve heard Prasanna’s work knew they were in for a treat with this combination, almost a supergroup. His effortless rock-influenced Carnatic was a treat to listen to. He has an understated, quiet, style and a poker-faced sense of humour (“this track will be released in 2024… The recording was done last week but it will be out in 2024, if I’m right”). However, at times the solos were needlessly elongated (something I’ve always felt, ever since listening to Electric Ganeshaland - PS, check out who wrote the liner notes on this album. Heh!). His jugalbandhi with Wooten and then Karthick were stunning. Two standouts: Wooten playing Carnatic scale on the bass. Prasanna using a flange effect on his guitar, and Karthick using feedback from the hollow of his Ghatam to match him. Genius.

Being from a South Indian family, I’ve seen Ghatams before. But never a Khanjira. The range of sounds Amrit was able to get out of it was something else. While the front end provided the normal thwack, the edges provided a more liquidy feel. People who were at the concert will remember the li’l Pink Panther tune he played.

All this while, Wooten admirably ‘grooved’ with this foreign music. This is no surprise, really, given that he’s played genres from rock to jazz to fusion to world. Post the break, Wooten opened the show with a stunning 20-minute exhibition in which he also showed the audience how he uses his processor. It was the legend at his very best.

The show was not about the individual songs, really, it was about the sheer brilliance of four masters on stage. I’d stick my neck out and call it a sort of Carnatic Dream Theater. At the end of it all, we were left gasping. Most of us had never seen anything remotely like this before. It opened our minds up a little more.