Asian-American Heritage Week: Brooklyn Musician Perfects Indian-Jazz Fusion
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As NY1's celebration of Asian Heritage Week continues, Arts reporter Stephanie Simon reports on a Brooklyn jazz musician of Indian descent who made waves in the music industry when he felt the pull of his heritage.If improvisation is the calling card of jazz, then maybe it's not so unusual for a young man of Indian descent growing up out west to study to be a professional sax player. After all, it certainly was not what was expected of him.
"For an Indian-American, you know, being a Jazz musician is not the conventional path at all," says musician Rudresh Mahanthappa.
Today, Mahanthappa lives in Brooklyn and has a studio space in Greenpoint. He is an accomplished sax player who is well-known for fusing Jazz forms with Indian classical music.
But at first, Mahanthappa resisted suggestions to add Indian flourishes to his music, since he was not that familiar with the genre.
When he heard an Indian sax player, though, he changed his mind and began delving deep into the roots of Indian music.
"There's a point where children of immigrants in general, I think, reach a point where they're somewhat confused or conflicted as to how much they are of their ancestry and how much they are of their current state," says Mahanthappa. "For me it's like, how Indian am I? How American am I, you know? No, I don't speak my parents' language, so that is like a 'No' box, check the 'No' box for you are not Indian. But at the same time I felt very connected to the music."
His two recent CDs have done well and Mahanthappa sees more Indian-Americans at his concerts than ever before. he believes he's also riding a wave of enthusiasm for Indian culture caused by the popularity of Bollywood, several bestselling Indian authors and the internet.
"Young audiences that are more eclectic than ever. They're listening to everything because they have access to everything," says Mahanthappa.
He has a gig coming up at Iridium Jazz Club at the end of this month - a unique tribute in which the music of jazz legend Miles Davis is played by Indian and Indian-American musicians.
The event is called "Miles To India," but these days Mahanthappa never feels that far away from South Asia or its music.
For more information on Mahanthappa and "Miles To India," visit www.rudreshm.com, www.myspace.com/rudreshm and www.iridiumjazzclub.com.