German Invasion

BuJazzO,consisting of 40 young musicians,was accompanied by R A Ramamani,T A S Mani and Karthik Subramaniam on vocals,and Ramesh Shotham on percussions. “It was not a musical fusion but an opportunity for us to learn from German music and vice versa,” said Shotham,who has been a mentor to youngsters in Germany for over 30 years now. BuJazzO is scheduled to perform in six major Indian cities in the next month. “We had promised to discover new musical terrains while teaming up with BuJazzO. We kept our promise by performing compositions by Louis Banks and Charlie Mariano,both renowned Jazz musicians,” said Ramamani.

Founded 24 years ago,the federal youth Jazz orchestra that is BuJazzO is renowned for its creative energy and great vitality on stage. The orchestra in Pune consisted of six saxophones,four trombones,five trumpets,two bassists and three young percussionist. “To explore the cultural and musical tones of a country like India,we needed a big group,” said Ulrich Adomeit,a senior band conductor. “BuJazzO gets most of its inspirations from Indian music.” Harting agreed to this. “With 24 tones,the Indian music is more interesting. Young members of BuJazzO listen to Pandit Ravi Shankar very often.”