BENGALURU: For German guitarist and composer, Ralf Siedhoff, music is a platform to interact with different artistes and look for influences. That quest became the core of his band Bosquo Magico, which he started three years ago with the Ukraine oboe player Mykyta Sierov. The duo is in Bengaluru for an upcoming performance, during which they will be combining jazzy improvisations with a long line of different instruments and city-based musicians R A Ramaman and Karthik Mani’s Carnatic music.
“Sierov and I always look for new combinations, interesting people to work with and get new influences for compositions, whether it is African, Western classical or Arabic. All these elements elevate compositions. I don’t want to play in a fixed style. This is one of the reasons for having Bosque Magico,” Siedhoff said. The duo has worked with different musicians and have performed in countries such as France, Switzerland and Africa.
The Indian classical music arena is not something new for Bosque Magico. In 2000, they came to India and the result was a composition called Crossing Roots, which had a mix of raagas from Carnatic music and flamenco recital. That’s where Siedhoff met Ramamani, a Carnatic vocalist and learned music under her tutelage. “If I’m attempting a collaboration with different music genres, first I try to understand the basics. So, I learnt the basics of Carnatic music from Ramamani and met Karthik at the same time. From that experience, I found that there are similarities between flamenco and raagas,” Siedhoff added.
The urge to make quality compositions has brought Ramamani, her son Karthik and Bosque Magico together. “Sharing the stage with established artistes and performing with the new generation of artistes are different from one other. As an artiste, we should try new things, concepts, forms. When someone is putting their soul and energy into music, the experience or age of artistes don’t matter. Initially when Siedhoff suggested this idea, I said let’s see how it goes. Later, when they tried some compositions, it came out well. Music itself is a language. I found that every music genre is connected to Indian raagas in one or other way.”
The group’s upcoming performance will include improvisations from classical, Indian and jazz music. “At the event, Mykyta will play solos with his oboe, which is similar to the clarinet or nadaswaram. There will be improvisations between Carnatic raagas by Ramamani and Mykyta’s oboe recital. Usually we don’t find oboe in fusion music. High energy solos, beautiful melodies, mix of jazz, classical music and percussion. I am singing one folk song called Tarakka bindige which uses different instruments, including the ghatam, Cajón, Djembe and Khanjeera,” shared Karthik. The Bosque Magico concert will be held on October 4 at 6.30pm in Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan.