Besides organising Jazz Events at the Gonslaves Mansion, we have also organised jazz nights at various other locations around Goa.
In 2010, Saskia was back, this time with added vigour, with South American beats to add to
her already sizzling range of music. With Columbian percussions backing the band, the
Saskia laroo quintet went about mesmerizing the crowds at the popular destinations Zee
Bop and Utorda, and Aah Goa in Nerul.
Though the crowds were not full as they normally are for her, they were sizeable enough
to bring out the best in the band which has now become part of a deeper association between
the Dutch and the Goan people. For all that she is doing in Goa, Saskia was nominated
by us for the prestigious Karmaveer Award, and we are delighted to say that she has won
the award much to everyone’s delight. Kudos to Saskia, kudos to her spirit and style.
In early December 2004, the show was graced by the Brown Indian Band which comprised of Colin
D’Cruz and a host of musicians from North India as well as from South India besides having
a Western Jazz segment led by Jayson Jones of Chicago . The show was an instant success
and of course, Heritage Jazz was here to stay.
The show featured world renowned Indian saxophone player, Padmashree Kadri Gopalnath
who enthralled the audience as he toyed with the saxophone to create sounds that were
absolutely incredible. He was accompanied by another genius, young Harikumar (www.hariviolin.com)
of Kerala who was the recipient of the Violin Chakaravarthy at the hands of the then
President of India, Mr. R.Venkataraman.
Both Kadri and Hari set the quiet village of Betalbatim ablaze with sounds that had
the audience spellbound. Of special note was the way Hari toyed with his violin to come
up with an exciting rendition of the raga Hare Rama, Hare Krishna, moving on to an emotional
Vande Mataram and since no one would allow him to leave, an absolutely exhilarating display
of emotion in the rendition of our National Anthem which got the stunned audience on
its feet in a spontaneous expression of reverence for our motherland.
‘All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.’ All play and no work however, is a better way
to go. On May 1st 2010, International Labour day, all work was left behind as men slipped
into their Bermudas and ladies in their florals let down their hair and headed to Zeebop’s
for an electric evening of great Gypsy music, good grub and laughter that ran into the
night.
Harri Stojka was electrifying on the guitar with excellent backing from his band; Claudius
Jelinek on his guitar, Heimo Wiederhofer on the drums and Karl Sayer on double bass.
When Harri Stojka was a kid, his dad gave him a plastic guitar he got at the fair. Only
six years old, little Harri was visibly fascinated by it. So Harri's father didn't waste
any time and bought him a real instrument that was appropriate for his age. From that
point on, the classical or Spanish guitar became the focus of all of Harri's attention.
From the very beginning, his father told him that he had to practice until his fingers
smoked. One day Harri said, "Papa, I practice and practice, but I don't see any smoke!"
Today he takes the same approach to the guitar and last Saturday evening, the atmosphere
was surely smoking with Harri clad in a fiery hue strumming up a storm, as people sipped
on pinacolada trying to cool down while even the waves rushed to the shore to catch wind
of the spectacular concert in the sand.
The guitars filled the evening with that gypsy charm and splendour casting a musical
spell on all present.
Way into the show, the audience was treated to a special surprise performance by Goa’s
young talent, Varun Carvalho, who had released a great debut album ‘Gotta go Home’ comprising
of honest meaningful lyrics. It was a great performance followed by much appreciation
from the smiling audience. Heritage Jazz always has something unique and different to
offer its audience and this show was no exception; Gypsy jazz is now etched in the minds
and hearts of all the wonderful people at the show.
The Harri Stojka Quartet ended with some gorgeous gypsy guitar tunes and Heritage Jazz
had an exciting auction of their CD which was truly engaging and fun; some enjoyed bidding
while others watched on, excitedly. The night was truly spectacular and everyone left
feeling a little giddy with all that Gypsy jazz!
Since December 18 2001 was such a huge success, everyone just wanted more. And more we had
in January 2003.
A slightly different cast of musicians this time, but the event was wonderful with people
joining in the singing and playing different instruments. These shows went on with one
beautiful show in January 2003 at Valerio’s official State Bank of India residence at
Altinho which lent a superb ambience to the music. This was the precursor of SBI playing
a major role in facilitating the renovation of heritage homes
Heritage Jazz conducted two grand concerts at The International Centre Goa. These 2 shows will be conducted on a grand scale and will meet and exceed international standards, in conformity with the company’s principles and policies. These will be held consecutively on February 12 and 13, 2011. Goa has several heroes in the music, arts, literary and other fields. We honoured several such heroes and heroines at the Goa ForGiving Awards night held on February 13, 2011. These awards coincided with the 50th anniversary of Goa’s liberation from Portuguese rule. Winners were presented a trophy and citation for their contributions towards Goan music, arts, culture and heritage and its promotion.
26th December 2009, La Oasis in Anjuna still had its Christmas lights on reflecting in the blue pool while people relaxed beside it, sipping on cocktails and spicy tidbits, engrossed in interesting banter. Three young men from Paris were in Goa on their Bonjour India tour. After a beautiful performance at Alliance Francaise, Heritage Jazz invited them for an encore performance in Anjuna. Sharik, Gael and Thibault took stand below the running lights and the conversations around stopped just as they began. Sharik introduced the band to the guests and the music began to flow. These Parisian lads of diverse backgrounds and cultures met in the city of love about 2 years ago in search of a common musical vision; their talent, style and passion combined to form their novel, creative sound. Their unique compositions are the result of combining different influences such as classical, hip-hop, rock, and jazz while heavily rooted in improvisation. Blending colors and shapes with grooves and urban rhythms, this trio respects traditional styles while finding the perfect 21st century sound.
JAzz Nirvana began with a scintillating solo by Amit Heri as he enchanted with his guitar. A musician worth every string he has strummed, Amit has enthralled at major international music festivals and played alongside some of the best of his contemporaries. In steps Ranjit Barot, the son of Padmashree Sitara Devi, a drumming sensation who has played at several international music festivals. He positioned himself perfectly to enable constant eye contact and communication with the band members. “Wow” was the simple yet emphatic reaction of one lady in the crowd which reflected the ambience and emotion of everyone present. Ranjit sure drummed his way into the heart of Goa. Ravi Chari joined in finally, providing a divine musical climax to this step by step performance, also adding a glorious Indian touch to it, with his sitar. The crowd loved this pure fusion of sounds and styles which captivated them completely. Just when things were at their peak, Hari Kumar stepped in with his violin for a guest performance that thrilled and had the crowd wanting more. His flexibility and amazing energy translates impeccably under the stage lights as he catures the audience and has them right where he wants them. It is no wonder that Amit is one of the best violinists in the country. Enter the sensuous and soulful ball of fire, Dutch diva Saskia Laroo and her band. Their third visit to Goa, had them perform at the successful Konkani rocks festival just 3 days prior, sending the crowd into a frenzy as the applauded them and joined in the singing of their beloved Konkani songs. Jazz Nirvana had Saskia in her element, as she wove her trumpeted magic, supported by her gifted band. Her saxophonist, Alexander Beets in one of the few tenor saxophone greats from the Netherlands. He is a well rounded musician and performs along with his brothers as well as his own quartet. His quartet is frequently asked some of the Netherlands best vocalists.
The Jazz group “Pedro Moraes Quintet” performed at Chef Fernando's Nostalgia at Raia on Saturday,
November 1, 2008 as part of Trancemedia's plan to take Heritage Jazz to every nook and
corner of Goa .
Pedro Moraes a Brazilian artist, singer and song writer has travelled to India with
his quintet. His known by the Brazilian press as one of the most important new generation
singers and song writers in Brazilian popular music for the last couple of years.
We furter took the Jazz movement to the gardens of Panjim, and our first event was done on the 5th of November 2012. Great Swizz band, the Pommel Horse led by the bass
clarinet player Lukas Roos, regaled a wonderful audience that had assembled at the Garcia
de Orta Municipal Garden near the Panjim Church, and that too on a Monday evening, thus
signaling the start of a grassroots movement that will enliven the musical pores of this
great city.
Pommel Horse consisted of 5 members who played the bass clarinet, the saxes, the keyboards,
bass and drums, and provided great entertainment to an energetic audience that had gathered
at the open air venue, thus bringing together the people of Panjim to enjoy a great evening
of camaraderie and jazz. The Musical Revolution carries on, and Heritage Jazz once again
provides that impetus to make this movement a great success!
Sharik Hasan, one of the leading pianists and composers of his generation to emerge from India was accompanied by Adam Larson on Saxophone, Philip Lemm on Drums and Raviv Markovitz on Bass. The quartet opened up the show with one of their original compositions “Onwards”, which was continued by a mixture of their originals and some standards like “Summertime”, originaly composed by George Gershwin for the 1935 opera Porgy and Bess. The quartet was on its India tour, Goa being the last destination. Sharik Hasan also gave a brief on their music school, the True School of Music which is launched in partnership with the Manhatten School of Music, NYC. Its training programmes will open up lucrative careers in music for professionals and budding musicians. The Sharik Hasan Quartet was a real treat to listen to and watch. Thunderclaps followed every piece they played. The Quartet readily extended the show by an extra piece as requested by the excited crowd who still could not get enough and yearned for more. The show was organised by Heritage Jazz as part of the “Rain or Shine Goa Rocks” series.
The ensemble “JuJu” is a duo project of Julia Schreitl with her long time companion Judith Reiter on viola. In addition to the reeds and the viola they used their voices as a medium of expression. Juju played compositions of both band members that showed a big diversity of styles. Their program included songs with lyrics, jazz tunes and free form improvisations.
We partnered with the Tourism Ministry and the GTDC in conserving water since water is the vital ingredient for any economic activity, more specifically, tourism activity. By conserving water as the core idea, we brought this whole thing to centre stage, thus showing the great interest that the Goa Government has too, for environmental upgradation. It all starts with thought, and this is where we are today, to translate this thought into action via high profile activities over the calendar year. A two day event with power packced performances by Varun Carvvalho, Carlos Gonsalves, INDIVA (an all women's band from Mumbai) and Remo Fernandes and the Microwave Papadums.
The caliber of this band is definitely not commonplace and could easily be ranked among the world’s best in jazz fusion. Megha definitely provided the musical fireworks for lighting up this Diwali. Dr. Suma Sudhindra who leads Megha, is one of the most acclaimed veena exponents in the country. She is known for her melodic rendition on the veena, and one observes the brilliant blend of traditional purity and artistic novelty in her music. She will be accompanied by an array of brilliant musicians who will be performing on the amazing south Indian percussion instruments such as the kanjira, ghatam, mrigandam and the tabla. To add to the excitement, B. K. Chandramouli is the most widely acclaimed performer on the konekol, a traditional rendering of rhythmic expression and he will add spice to an already loaded performance.
That hugely talented ensemble of musicians Blue Fire fronting as a wonderful foil for the
spectacular musical feats of S Harikumar on his seven-stringed electric violin, started
up the show.
The music was an amazing fusion of sound of tabla, electric drums, keyboards and guitars
and of course that soul stirring electric violin played to perfection by S Harikumar
’s genius. Sanjay Maroo on drums had the crowd grooving to his beat. This was the perfect
start to an experimental and fun-charged evening.
Fusion is just catching on and the erstwhile iron clad boundaries of pure Indian classical
music are being breached slowly but surely. If anything, Harikumar’s fusion take on Raghupati
Ragav Raja Ram and Vande Mataram was so singularly good that fusion music of western
with classical Indian could go down smoothly as a brave new musical trend.
The second part of the evening belonged to Interplay. The legendary Don Saigal joined
his daughter Sonia Saigal on stage and thrilled the spectators. Adrian de Sousa was on
the drums, Rishad Mistry on bass and Harmeet Manseta on keyboards. Manseta’s magic on
the keyboards went over very well with the crowd. The show wound to a reluctant end way
past midnight with the audience wishing Interplay would return to give them some more
of their truly beautiful jazz recitals.
Samba jazz night belonged to Mandu Sarara, a five-member band led by Beto Sporleder. The
music was unusual Latin jazz and samba music much to the delight of a packed audience
made up of the Latin loving people of Goa, including our late Consul General of the Portuguese
embassy Pedro Cabral Adao, Bebe Costa and family, Karl Vaz and family, Cecilia Menezes,
Antonio Sousa, about 400 more jazz lovers. The ambience was electric, fully lit up (all
ablaze in true Trancemedia style) Goa ’s Remo Fernandes chipped in with his songs and
thanked the organizers for bringing a Brazilian band to Goa for the first time.
The music was pure samba with ancient Brazilian tribal beats carried straight from the
rural villages of Brazil , incorporated into the music of the evening. The audience had
come ready to hear the usual sensuous Brazilian samba but they were astounded by the
soulful throbbing beat of the ancient tribal music of Brazil . Samba icon of Goa Carlos
Monteiro celebrated his birthday by performing with the band much to the delight of the
Goan crowd and to the band who loved his music.
Mandu Sarara means the “Blond Portuguese Men” in Toopee Guarani, a tribal language of
Brazil . Lucas Vargas was amazing playing the keyboards with his left hand and the escoleta,
a portable wind keyboard with his right hand. Mario Galotto sat on a stool with his feet
pressing pedals that kicked brushes against small drum surfaces while his left hand rocked
a tambourine and his right hand thrummed the skin in short bursts. Rodrigo Braganza played
wonderfully on his acoustic guitar and on the electric guitar. Beto Sporleder made beautiful
music on his transverse flutes and soprano saxophone.