Trilok GurtuTrilok Gurtu is a master of Indian music, tabla, percussion, and Western drumming -- who plays a unique hybrid East-West drum set up. He is also a visionary composer who created fusions of Indian music with jazz, rock, classical, and ethnic music. Well known in the jazz community through his collaborations with Don Cherry, John McLaughlin, Joe Zawinul, and Pat Metheny, Gurtu first became known as a member of the world/jazz fusion band Oregon. He has also collaborated with many African artists (Neneh Cherry, Salif Keita, Angelique Kidjo and Oumou Sangare).In 2009 Trilok Gurtu, releases the new album MASSICAL on the label BirdJAM, which has been founded by Joe Zawinul. This album shows Trilok Gurtu and his band at the top level. As a special guest, norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek joins Trilok Gurtu on the song Bridges. Trilok Gurtu will perform throughout the year 2009 to promote MASSICAL.
Performance at Cité de la Musique 18/03/06 > watch video Trilok Gurtu has moved so effortlessly between different worlds for so long that now it is like a personal odyssey . His sense of musical direction is very complex. He draws circles, spans chasms and creates intensely woven networks of influences from various regions and musical epochs. Trilok’s depth of spirituality and non-judgmental empathy for different cultures, has lead him on an unending search for new ways to express himself on the solid foundation of authentic traditions. Trilok Gurtu was born in Bombay to an extremely musical family. His grandfather was a highly respected sitar player and his mother Shoba Gurtu was among the most highly renowned Indian singers. There was practically no way for Trilok not to seek a musical career, although his path to percussion was hardly preordained. Today, Gurtu remembers how “my entire family played harmonic instruments and sang and danced. My brother Ravi and I are the only percussionists, although we're not quite sure how we got there. My mother told me when I was three or four years old that she had a percussionist who always came too late or never came at all. Somewhere along the line, my father said: Trilok drums on the table all the time - get him down. And I had to accompany my mother. That's how I chose my instrument - or the instrument chose me. I learned just as much about singing as percussion when I accompanied my mother.” That was a talent that was to be very useful to him later. He extended his range of tablas to congas, bongos and drums and then he started a percussion band with his brother and was influenced by John Coltrane and Jimi Hendrix. In the 70s, he toured Europe and later America with the Indian singer Asha Bhosle, performed with Charlie Mariano and Embryo and joined up with Don Cherry in Sweden whose universal musical spirit was driving the future for him. Starting in 1977, he belonged to the Family of Percussion and worked together with innumerable jazz musicians. Then in the mid-80s, he joined Oregon and gave them a completely new way of looking at things with his powerful spirituality. In 1988, he started what is now considered historic, his work with John McLaughlin that was to continue for four years. Well on his way after this boost, he released a series of solo albums which are much appreciated not just in Jazz but also World Music where his career has flourished ever since. On these solo albums an amazing array of musicians came to record with him - Joe Zawinul, Jan Garbarek, Pharoah Sanders, Ralph Towner, Bill Laswell, Pat Metheny, Steve Lukather were joined by Salif Keita, Angelique Kidjo, Oumou Sangare, Neneh Cherry, Huun Huur Tu and many leading Indian musicians too – Zakir Hussein, Sultan Khan, L Shankar and Shankar Mahadevan. Trilok cut his first solo album Usfret in 1987 its’ visionary spirit was too far ahead of its’ own time to be appropriately honoured by the critics and the general public. He tore down the bastions of jazz and world music together with Ralph Towner, Don Cherry, L. Shankar and his mother Shoba. The rhythmic and harmonic interweaving already contains all of the ingredients that were to rock the world of music a decade later in Drum’n’Bass. Since then, he has persistently added various elements to develop a form of music that finds hierarchies superfluous and has reached its latest position in the new CD entitled Massical. Trilok turned the pages back and recalls that “I got a lot of flak for my first record because I was trying out something new. It's a lot easier just to imitate somebody else. I tried to forge a bond between my love for Africa and India, but somewhere along the line I had the feeling I was respecting the music too much. I have to remember to maintain my own self respect. Guess what? My music doesn't exist without me! So, I was a little bit more relaxed about my music and concentrated on what I heard myself. On Massical, I didn't think much about music; I just played This was the advice I got from my spiritual teacher Ranjit Maharaj.” That's why the songs on Massical feel like acoustic balm. When you're listening, you forget everything you ever learned about music. You drop all your prejudices and surrender yourself to the flow. Trilok had to drop some ballast himself to be able to credibly transport that feeling. He is an incredible virtuoso who had a tendency to play too much. But virtuosity plays second fiddle on Massical and just lets the musical process fall into place. Trilok says "I'm not just showcasing myself. If the music doesn't call for virtuosity, I don't use it. But, let's not forget that there are pieces that are awfully difficult to play and most musicians would not be able to. That music is virtuoso, even though it sounds simplistic. When the musicians cut their first or second record, they usually put their instrument front and centre. But I want to feature my music. There's a difference there. The groove is much more important than virtuosity.“
Awards :2001 Multicultural Music Award on Carlton TV / World music Award BBC Radio 3 / Best percussionist in DownBeat’s Critics Poll Line up:Trilok Gurtu : percussions, batterie/drums, voix/voice Sites:
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 Artistes World/Jazz |
