The musical supergroup Mahaphon Clang, consisting of the emergent Germany-based band Lautstark!4 and internationally renowned percussionist Ramesh Shotham performed at the Goethe-Institut Berlin Hall on February 23, as a part of their Mela Thing-2014 tour.
The jazz-funk fusion band surprised the crowd with their rendition of instru-vocal, funk guitar work and a variety of percussion instruments with dexterity. All the musical pieces presented at the concert reflects real life experiences of the performers, such as Ramesh Shotham’s experience of getting lost in the busy push and pull of the city, the band members’ six to seven hour long journey from Chennai to Bangalore and many more. Thus, the music of Mahaphon Clang can be best described as multi-folklore, urban improvised music and is determined by continuously changing influences from the exterior.
The Mahaphon Clang is electrifying and enthralling the audiences in every concert and every session, by shifting to a different direction caused by any newly gained inspiration. And finally, it is about the courage of both the musicians and the audience to enter a stage or a concert without really knowing what might happen.
Jan Friedrich Kurth, frontman of the supergroup revealed the philosophy of their kinetic music to Dhaka Tribune: “We are not representing German music here, it is just one of the aspect of the German music scene. Our music is the eccentric sound which lies underneath every human’s mind or soul. We try to render that sound by sudden improvisation onstage.”
The jazz-funk band is highly inspired by New York based trio Medeski Martin & Wood and additionally by the rock music from the 70s, free jazz, contemporary improvised music, classical south Indian, European avant garde, bhangra, Tamil pop, dubstep, funk, cacophony in streets and the different languages they heard in foreign lands.
The name Mahaohon Clang is derived from the Sanskrit word “maha” meaning great, from the Greek Expression “phon,” which refers to the physical of the perceived volume and from the English word “clang,” which means rattling or crashing. Thus, even the band-name alone promises a unique experience of various musical encounters.
The ensemble includes Jan Friedrich Kurth (vocals), Matthias Kurth (electric guitar), Lutz Streum (saxophone and clarinets) and Ramesh Shotham (percussions, vocals). At present, the band is managing postproduction works of their first record with the German label Jazz Werkstatt and plans on releasing it on September 1, 2014.
