Chill forgotten as audience warms to sound energy

NEW DELHI: For Delhiites who wanted a special musical evening on Saturday, Nehru Park was the place to be. The second day of the World Percussion Festival, organized jointly by Indian Council for Cultural Relations and The Times of India, saw the audience clapping enthusiastically to the sound of one of the great percussionists in the world, Gilad Dobrecky from Israel. He was then followed by Latin Jam from El Salvador, who created a jam session with a cheering audience. Dressed warmly to beat the chill, Delhiites starting getting into the mood by as Dobrecky, who is known as one of the top ten percussionists in the world, started with a slow track using various instruments on stage. Promising the audience that it would soon forget the chilly weather, Dobrecky gave a short introduction to the composition he had just played. “I wrote this tune for a friend of mine, a great singer, Mark Murphy. We worked on an album together. One night he was driving and felt sleepy and, to help keep him awake, I wrote this tune,” he said. The next tune was introduced as ‘Bob the builder’, which was followed by an interactive session with the audience which clapped excitedly in sync with the flow of music.Dobrecky’s performance and compositional style draw on a diverse range of musical traditions from Middle East, north and west Africa, Brazil, classical Europe and jazz. Dobrecky then asked the audience to close its eyes and imagine it was in a forest. While the audience complied, he started off with the sound of birds chirping, then added sounds of a waterfall, trees swaying, animals howling and the rustle of leaves, all of which helped the audience picture themselves in the middle of a forest. Soft music and vocals were added towards the end. Delhiites who were new to percussion said it was a memorable experience. As the next artistes from El Salvador took stage, members of the audience started to dance to the beats. “The atmosphere was extremely lively and, like it was promised, we all forgot the chill in the air as we completely imbibed the mood onstage,” said Varun Chadha who had come from Malcha Marg to attend the fest.