Jazz,improvised

DJ Woody's gigs turn into jam sessions for techno tunes,saxophone sounds and bansuri notes.

There isn’t any one definition for DJ Woody. You can call him a western jazz saxophonist and flautist,classical clarinet and piano player,composer,arranger and electronic music artist. In 2005,he travelled to Mumbai from New Zealand to learn music under maestro Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia. The bansuri intrigued and fascinated his music mind. “What defines me best is a wind musician and improviser looking for innovative ways to expose the beauty of the instruments that I play,primarily saxophone and the Indian flute,” he says. At the console,he dishes out non-commercial house and funky trip-hop and beautifully weaves in the saxophone and flute improvisations. “I have a really nice rosewood Belgian classical flute that’s more than 100 years old. It merges really well with techno,” he added ahead of his performance in Pune on Friday evening at Paasha,Pune Marriott Hotel and Convention Centre.

An electronic music producer for more than 12 years now,he understands it well enough to be able to blend in live elements in such a way that it sounds like a recording. The chemistry of electronic music and live instruments is overpowering. “My background is of a jazz improviser. I respond to what music is around me and create melodies according to that. Personally,I really like the sound scopes in electronic music and find this a very good platform to improvise on,” he says.

In India,this multi-talented musician has collaborated with Anutosh Degharia,Bhusan Parchure,Benoy Rai,Taufiq Qureshi,Louis Banks,Sivamani,Ravi Chary and others. While he has enjoyed the experience,it is his journey with Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia that is cherished. “Guruji is very generous,kind,simple,enormously talented and motivated as a teacher and a performing artist and innovator of the bansuri . He is a living example of the goal which many musicians strive to achieve – to be accomplished in your instrument and to take it somewhere that is uniquely you. He has been very inspiring and motivating and has increased my abilities,” he describes.

DJ Woody has performed extensively in India,Australia,New Zealand,UK and Japan. India,he says,leads the world in many respects. “Music in any culture is defined by the people and their lifestyle in that country. India uniquely combines its traditional lifestyle with the modern way of living which is reflected in the Indian music scene,” he observes. The vibrancy and diversity of the country shines through in the music here.

Last weekend,in Goa,Woody played electronic music for a sangeet. “Some time later,in another restaurant,I noticed a group of young musicians and dancers from Rajasthan performing their traditional music. It was amazing to see these two styles being performed a few hundred meters away from each other. This is indeed a typical characteristic of the diversity found in India,” he describes.

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Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia