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Saturday night fever

Photos: NAGARA GOPAL

All that jazz The instrumentalists and the vocalists celebrated the day together

Inside Hall nos 5 and 6, lights were being tested out with the multicoloured gel filters even as some artistes ‘hello-checked’ out the sound system. The rest of them sat huddled in the green rooms on the first floor, sipping beverages. St accato bursts of incomplete music pieces on guitars and drums could be heard round the vast auditorium as the instruments were being fine-tuned.

“Wednesdays and Saturdays are Music Days in France. On these days, the children go to what is known as music conservatories to learn music,” says Frederick Dart, Director Alliance Francaise. The Fete de la Musique (Celebration of Music) that started in France in 1982 was adopted by UNESCO 10 years later as World Music Day every June 21. The last minute preparations for this year’s World Music Day were on June 21 at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre (HICC), organised jointly by Alliance Francaise and Goethe Zentrum.

6.30 pm in Hyderabad – The crowd flowed in at HICC as the evening kicked off with Jaywant Naidu’s Hawaiian guitar recital.

6.30 pm in Paris - In and around the streets and open spaces in Luxembourg Gardens, Quartier Latin, Boulevard St Michael, Champ Elysees, the crowd would gather at any of the 50-odd cafes to watch professional and semi-professional rock bands and classical players perform with gay abandon. .

Likewise, at Tokyo Harbour, Osaka, Vancouver, World Music Day rang in carnival time.

Whether it was the French connection or a coincidence, there was a preponderance of black attire this evening among men and women alike at the HICC.

Traffic restrictions and other constraints in the twin cities do come in the way of enabling organisers to hold the event under the open skies at cafe fronts. But the cafe at the Convention Centre served as a useful substitute.

The audience moved around quite fluidly, picking up sandwiches, coffee, samosas, soft drinks and other snacks from the counters.

“We need to show respect to the artistes by remaining seated during the performance,” felt S.R. Rustomfram as he picked up his beer from a stall. “But this is a music festival and not really a concert” felt an elderly Parsi couple. ‘A couple who understand’ is how they allowed themselves to be identified as.

Naveen Elias and friends’ western classical followed next. Joe and Ujjal rendered their jazz performance after that.

The crowd pattern changed gradually, but inevitably. As the older ones shuffled out, the younger ones (multi-ethnic as well) replaced them in anticipation of DJ Bala. In the meantime, there was VeHaan on contemporary instrumental and alternate rock by Stiffneck Syndrome. What remained a constant was black outfits.

“This event is a pleasant surprise,” felt young Nishanthi, who has recently moved to Hyderabad and works for an ad agency. “We could have more of these events,” she said.

Thus, the Fete de la Musique jazzed, rocked, sang, danced well into late Saturday evening.

And why not? Summer solstice is a long day.

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