BENGALURU: For many of us who grew up listening to classic rock songs by legends of the ’70s and ’80s, on vinyl records, cassettes or CDs, every guitar riff, crash of the drums, and strum of the bass is as familiar as the back of our hands.
With his experimental arrangements of classic rock songs, Parisian guitarist and composer, Nguyên Lê, turns every expectation on his head, using jazz, and unexpected sounds from cultures around the world to breathe new life into them. He is set to perform his renditions in Bengaluru this Sunday at Blr Hubba’s 16-day music festival, Kantha, celebrating boundary-defying music across Asia.
Titled ‘Songs of Freedom with Nguyên Lê’, the hour-long concert will feature music from Lê’s 2011 album of the same name. He will be performing alongside a band, including well-known drummer Gary Husband, bassist Romain Labaye, vocalist Himiko Paganotti, and Illya Amar on vibraphone/mallet synths.
“We will be playing music from my album Songs of Freedom, including songs by Led Zeppelin, Queen, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Stevie Wonder, and more. There’s also a new tune – Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence by Ryuichi Sakamoto, a Japanese composer who died last year. He was known for his contributions to the world music movement and this will be a tribute to him,” explains Lê.
In Lê’s hands, The Beatles’ Eleanor Rigby becomes embellished with the mournful cries of the Erhu (a Chinese instrument), I Wish by Stevie Wonder is brought alive with Punjabi beats, and Led Zepellin’s Black Dog acquires distinctly Middle-Eastern tones. For Lê, growing up in Paris as the son of two Vietnamese parents, this multi-cultural experimentation with music was a way of building an identity.
He says, “I was aware that I had to first learn the music that I loved, which was jazz, and which brought me to become a musician, but at the same time, come back to my [Vietnamese] roots.”
He explains further, “I was also always fascinated by other cultures. When I started to meet musicians from Japan, India, North and South Africa – I learned so much with them that I wanted to create something with everything that I’ve learned.”
With the love for different cultures and appreciation for their music which he brings to his performances, Lê hopes to send a message of unity.
“I hope that people can feel that through the music we play, understand that we are living on the same planet and that we have a global destiny to take care of. It’s so important to have everybody join in the same hope for a better future,” he says.
(Nguyên Lê will be performing at Freedom Park, Seshadri Road, on December 8 at 8:30 pm. For more information, visit blrhubba.in)