With the goal of fostering closer links between the two nations, a group of jazz musicians from Italy and India, including trumpeter Paolo Fresu, pianist Rita Marcotulli, and seasoned drummer Trilok Gurtu, are performing a series of concerts in three locations.
Although the three artists have collaborated in the past, this will be their first live performance. At the “India, Jazz Up!” concerts, they will showcase their original songs accompanied by prolonged improvisation.
The Italian Cultural Centre and the Italian Embassy are organising the concerts, which they have dubbed the premier event of 2024.
Master drummer and pioneer of world music Gurtu has deep connections to Italy, where he launched his worldwide career in 1972. Gurtu has recorded alongside guitarists Pat Metheny, John McLaughlin, and Gary Moore during the course of his five-decade career. His music has incorporated Western jazz, African and Brazilian rhythms, and Indian classical music.
Known for his work as a jazz trumpeter, Fresu started out in his native Sardinia with a marching band. He has since collaborated and performed with artists such as Gurtu, Omar Sosa, and Carla Bley. Having visited the nation for the first time in 1984 to play at the Jazz Yatra, he is well-known in India. Fresu, a member of the European jazz nouvelle vague movement, frequently conducts electronic music experiments and uses the trumpet for percussion.
Italian pianist and composer Marcotulli is well-known for her ability to improvise, and on February 27th, the three performers gave a masterclass for Indian music students in New Delhi. African, Brazilian, and Indian music are some of her influences.
The three musicians answered questions from students on Tuesday during the masterclass in New Delhi, including their sources of inspiration, playing methods, and breaking through in the music industry.
Gurtu enthralled the audience with his tale of sleeping beneath a bridge in Florence and receiving assistance from an Italian woman who, upon discovering that he had not eaten, fed him pasta aglio, olio, and peperoncino for multiple days.
It will take place at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi on February 29, the NCPA in Mumbai on March 2, and the Prestige Srihari Khoday Centre for Performing Arts in Bengaluru on March 3.
According to him, this combination of sounds symbolises the reciprocal interaction between Italy and India, where creativity and culture are important aspects of soft power.
“Seeing these three incredible musicians perform together in Delhi is a truly unique experience. According to Andrea Anastasio, director of the Italian Cultural Centre, “beyond the gift of witnessing them on stage, they are the tangible example of what happens when different cultural identities do not generate walls but pathways to a shared vision of the beauty of multiple voices.”
For the purpose of fostering cultural exchange, the US has sent renowned jazz performers to India, including Duke Ellington, Dave Brubeck, and Louis Armstrong. However, this is the first time Italy has organised a trio performance that blends traditional and contemporary elements from the Mediterranean region and India.