Lamakaan’s sixth anniversary celebrations took a mellow turn on Wednesday evening with a jazz, blues and ballads-themed performance by celebrated Hyderabadi musicians Dennis Powell and Shakila.
The duo was joined on stage by drummer Kartik Kalyan and bassist Benjamin Christopher, while George Hull accompanied them on saxophone.
Playing improvised versions of classics like Papermoon, Somewhere Over The Rainbow, Barbra Streisand’s Memory and Ray Charles’ Georgia On My Mind, this marked the first time that this particular group played together on stage.
Shakila has been singing with bands for years now, and Dennis has (at least) three bands — Dennis Powell Trio, Jazz Friends and the more recent Funk Checkpost. “Our endeavour is to promote Jazz in the city, so that’s why we try to do a lot of it,” says Dennis.
About the rise of modern music over “niche” genres such as jazz and blues in the city, Kartik says that the “imbalance is in more ways than one” and that the number of (and need for) such acts needs to increase.
He did, however, end on a positive note, saying that there are always people who come up to them at the end of their shows and are appreciative of their music — “And that’s what keeps us going.”
