Hyderabad hosts vibrant international jazz festival with global bands
HYDERABAD: The stadium at Hyderabad Public School on Saturday became a gathering of worlds, as it stretched across borders of language, tradition, ethnicity and sound for the International Jazz Festival. Organised by the American Consulate in collaboration with Goethe Zentrum, the event brought together four bands from across the world to perform jazz in forms— modern, classical, fusion and more.
The evening opened with the George Hull Collective, a local band which unexpectedly included two prodigious talents from the city. Daniel Marian Geiles, just 14, stood quietly with his guitar. When he played, the stage seemed to lean forward, listening. The complex riffs and runs of his performance—“difficult for even seasoned musicians,” an audience member whispered.
“I started playing in 2020,” Daniel said, adding, “This... this is something else. Irrespective of age difference among our band members, playing with such incredible musicians teaches you so much.”
Alongside him was Shruti Hasini, at 16, the pianist of the band. “Jazz isn’t about following rules,” she said. “It’s about breaking them. That’s what makes it so alive.”
Both these young musicians from Hyderabad itself, bring in a side of Hyderabadi western music that is brilliant. The two manage professional level music along with their academics.
Following was Malstrom, a trio from Germany and Switzerland who brought their own definition of chaos to the night. Florian Walter’s saxophone wailed aloud, Axel Zajac’s eight-string guitar groaned with low, guttural tones, and Jo Beyer’s drums were as precise as they could be. The trio brought to the stage a modern form of jazz, mixing it with metal and radical improvisation.
“This is jazz with no rules,” laughed one attendee, still catching his breath from headbanging. “It’s noise, it’s metal, it’s alive!”
Between tracks, Jo Beyer addressed the audience: “This is our first time in India, and what a place to start.” Their performance, as one audience member described it, was “funny, wild, and intentionally noisy.”
As the evening drew to a close, Cacha Mundhina, a band from Netherlands who blended jazz with Indian influences. The bansuri was played by Smith Nadig, an Indian artist. This was in combination with Portuguese lyrics sung by Lonas Almeida. Aman Mahajan, an Hyderabad Public School alum, was the pianist and finally the percussion was handled by Dutch artist Sjahin During.
As the crowd reeled from Malstrom’s energy, the Native Jazz Quartet from America entered with a gentler persuasion. Ed Littlefield, an Alaskan Tlingit drummer, invited the audience to feel his music.
“If you like it,” he said with a smile, “say thank you in my language. And if you really like it, you can start dancing.”
And they did. A girl twirled near the stage. A boy, no older than eight, joined her with top rock. Soon, couples were swept into the music, the Hyderabad Tango Community also joined in soon after.
“We were just giving in to it,” said Promit Dey, a member of the Hyderabad Tango community who “Jazz felt like a partner, guiding us.”
“Surreal to be back at my school after all these years,” Aman posted on Instagram. Their pieces left the crowd suspended in a moment of collective breath as it brought a fusion of Jazz with Indian classical music.
