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Broto Roy
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Mix and match
Subuhi Jiwani
Saturday, January 28, 2006 18:16 IST
I would classify Hindustani classical music in
gastronomical terms — as being the highest development of, let’s say,
fish,” says Virginia-based blues-jazz-raga fusion tabla player and
composer Broto Roy. Jazz (“less evolved but more diverse”) is more like an assortment
of salads, meats and desserts.
Roy began playing the tabla at six, training under Bidyut Banerjee of
the Punjab gharana.
Besides learning music the traditional way, he also has a bachelor’s
degree in music from Virginia’s William and Mary College.
The gharana’s parampara never restricted Roy; rather, it provided
food for his music. His debut tabla album, ‘American Raga’, draws out the
inherent similarity of Hindustani classical ragas and jazz:
improvisation. “I wrote the sketches and we improvised the Indian way,”
says Roy.
He has used ‘tehai’ or the playing of the final
segment of a melody three times, on this raga-jazz album, outside of its
classical Indian context. After it has been played for the third time,
begins the rhythmic cycle of the tabla — a clash at first, then slowly
arriving at a resolution. The Washington Post had this to say: “Unlike
trendy experiments, nothing seems half-baked on American Raga. The
performances of Roy and his collaborators flow naturally, like conversations between
old friends.”
“What I really am is a universalist composer,” says Roy. In fact, he is
currently working on an album called Dundee Darbari, an attempt to fuse
Raga Darbari with a Scottish Dundee melody.
Besides playing with his own Broto Roy Ensemble, he has also
set up an ensemble called Ganga, which has performed Bengali folk music
in Europe and America.  Current Rating0.0
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