U.S. Jazz Band House of Waters Kicks Off India Tour

by  EVENTFAQS Bureau Entertainment | November 29, 2018 | News

Teamwork Arts

The U.S. Mission in India and Teamwork Fine Arts Society present the India tour of highly acclaimed jazz group House of Waters from November 28 to December 8, 2018. The tour, sponsored by the US Embassy in New Delhi, will be part of Teamwork Arts’ Jazz India Circuit (JIC), a modern-day speakeasy, giving music-lovers and jazz aficionados the freedom to dream and live their music the way they want to.

Widely acclaimed for their uniquely progressive style, House of Waters is a trio that defies categorisation as they incorporate elements of West-African folk, jazz, psychedelic, indie rock, classical and world music into their astonishingly versatile sound. They have shared the stage with Ravi Shankar, Tinariwen, Jimmy Cliff, KODO, Blitz the Ambassador, Dave Eggar and many others.

The 12-day India tour will feature jazz performances and workshops in Bangalore, Goa, Hyderabad and Delhi to engage enthusiasts and artists, and promote jazz through a series of collaborative concerts. The once-in-a-lifetime collaborations will feature House of Waters  performing with artistes like B C Manjunath at BFlat Bar, Indiranagar in Bangalore; mridangam artiste Praveen Sparsh at Taj Krishna in Hyderabad; Warren Mendoza and Karsh Kale at the JIC International Festival Goa; and Indian classical flautist Ajay Shankar Prasanna, at the Delhi Arts International Festival, New Delhi.

Karl M Adam, Deputy Cultural Affairs Officer, U.S. Embassy New Delhi said, ‘Jazz is truly an American art form driven by our spirit of improvisation, freedom, and creativity.  We hope this tour will help celebrate our common appreciation of music and culture, one of the foundations upon which our people-to-people ties are based.’

Sanjoy K. Roy, Managing Director, Teamwork Arts, said, ‘The Jazz India Circuit brings together inspirational musicians from across the world and India to celebrate a genre that has seen a resurgence in recent years. India is vast melting pot of amazing talent and there is a crying need for many more platforms for our artists to realise their true potential.’

The House of Waters India tour will kick-off in Bangalore. Dynamic young artiste and recipient of several prestigious awards including the ‘Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar’, B C Manjunath, will collaborate with House of Waters at BFlat Bar, Indiranagar on November 29.

The next stop on the tour will be the headline performance at Teamwork Arts’ Jazz India Circuit International Festival on December 1, at the International Centre Goa. The band will be teaming up with guitarist, songwriter, producer, and Indian rock icon, Warren Mendonsa, as well as Karsh Kale, pioneer of the Asian Underground scene in the 90s, a visionary composer and eclectic producer. Mendonsa heads blues instrumentalists Black Strat Blues, and also plays as a live sessions guitarist with AR Rahman, Vishal Shekhar, and Amit Trivedi while Kale continues to reinvent his ever-evolving Indian electronica sound and has established himself as one of the world’s most sought after fusion artistes.

Next on the jazz map is Hyderabad, where 20-year-old mridangam artiste, Praveen Sparsh will collaborate with House of Waters at Taj Krishna on December 5. With a firm grounding in classical music and one foot in fusion, Praveen started the Indo-Western fusion band, “Sparsh”.

The tour will culminate in New Delhi on December 7 where the trio will collaborate with Indian classical flutist Ajay Shankar Prasanna, at the Delhi International Arts Festival on December 7. Hailing from a family of classical musicians of the Benaras Gharana, Ajay is known for his incredible melody, fluency, maturity and dexterity in both the gayaki and tantrakari styles of playing.

The band will also conduct workshops at music schools in different cities to enable the exchange of musical ideas and encourage the discovery of new skills. The artistes will interact with students from various music disciplines, as well as rehearse with the musicians with whom they are collaborating, giving the Indian artistes an opportunity to be exposed to the trio’s rich sound.