A blissful fusion
Sitar maestro Samuel J Dass continues his musical expression through his new album Swarasia, writes Aref Omar
ON the wide fretboard of the droning sitar, he mesmerisingly lets his fingers do the talking. Coaxing out his sweet musical voice on the traditional Indian instrument, Samuel J Dass displays virtuositic skill that bridges the gap between the old and more contemporary strains of melody and rhythm.
The classically-trained Malaysian sitar maestro has been perfecting his skills for decades and continues to inspire the younger generation to the wonders of the stringed instrument.
Although his forte is classical music, he doesn’t discount the fun to be had in other genres.
“A marriage of different cultures produces a new race,” he says with a smile during a recent chat in Petaling Jaya.
The sitar exponent started learning his craft at age 7 and has studied under various gurus, including Ustad Shahid Parvez from Pune, India.
He says: “I love doing fusion. I learnt western music too and whenever I mix with other musicians I like to learn about the various other distinct elements they utilise in their music. It’s a curiosity and I’m more adventurous in music.”
The sitar icon has been running the Swara Community Arts Centre in Seksyen 12, Petaling Jaya since founding it in 2014.
Together with his team of like minded educatuonists he teaches and nurtures the performing arts via Indian dance and music to promote social and personal growth in the youth.
After all, the study of the arts enriches not only the life of the student but also the community and society.
AN INPSIRED MIX
His latest project, forming the band Swarasia and coming up with a similarly-titled album, is where he gets to let his melodic hair down, jam and express his musical persona.
“I started Swarasia two years ago and we had 17 members altogether but it was not practical from a logistics and financial standpoint. It was not easy to travel for live performances and to get the right sound from everyone so I decided to trim it down to a small band of six musicians since last year,” says Samuel, who has released seven other albums over the years.
With a set of songs from two years ago the six worked on Samuel’s compositions and the result is an album of seven fusion tracks.
“Lots of people do fusion music but sometimes it’s just a whole load of confusion. At other times what people call as
fusion music is just jamming music without much substance. What I have put together are songs that can be enjoyed by people who are looking to listen to something different from mainstream or pop music. This is the musician’s music.”
He describes the tracks as well organised and arranged tunes with Malaysian elements as well as a mix of Indian and western chordal patterns and scales.
The seven tracks are Wandering Minds, Within Dreams, Kampungku, Canton Blossoms, Dancing Latinas, Nothing Is Forever
Trance-Fusion.
“Dancing Latinas has a strong Latin flavour to it and on Wandering Minds the scales keep on changing. Within Dreams was inspired when I went to Fraser’s Hill, while I was moved to compose Canton Blossoms after my visits to Taiwan and Jeju Island in South Korea,” says the multiple Boh Cameronian Arts Award winner, who has performed in the US, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Brunei and India.
The acoustic album, produced by Deepak Ramji and Dr Denesh Sinna, features an eclectic mix of experienced musicians who helped Samuel to craft together the musical gems.
MUSICAL MUSCLE
“They are all composers in their own right and I am lucky to be able to collaborate with them.”
Violinist Hariraam Tingyuan Lam has performed in many festivals and productions both locally and internationally. He teaches violin at the Temple of Fine Arts (TFA) in Kuala Lumpur.
Marco Alonso, who plays the guitar and sings, is a Malaysia-based Cuban musician. He has performed with Lewis Pragasam’s Asiabeat, composed songs for Reshmonu and recorded with Datuk Seri Siti Nurhaliza.
Tabla player Prakash Kandasamy, who also performs the konnakol (Indian form of scat singing) on the album, teaches tabla at TFA and Aswara. The award winning musician has also travelled around the world for performances and recordings.
Guitar and bass player Eliezer Enan is a sessionist, composer, arranger and teacher.
Santosh Logandran, who plays percussion and provides vocals, is a sound engineer and multiple Boh Cameronian Arts Award winner for his composing and music director work on Sand The Musical.
Samuel says that there are plans to come up with a trilogy of albums each year starting with this one.
“It will all be in the same genre and style. If the opportunity arises, there’ll be collaborations with other musicians as well. For me, these recordings are about leaving a legacy behind for future generations to come.”
“This is a good opportunity to showcase great musicians and their skills. We’re also planning a road show around Malaysia next month. Hopefully, we’ll get to travel abroad too,” he says.
The acoustic nature of the songs highlights the musicians ability to deliver the emotions and vibes in an organic manner.
“I’m interested in live instruments and in the physicality of playing them. We have to practise very hard and we play with feel. And when we play live on stage there’s energy and a sense of feeling alive.”
The Swarasia album is available on iTunes and Spotify. Physical copies can also be purchased from Billplz, Lazada, Swara CAC and Fenomena Music in Hartamas Shopping Complex, KL.
Visit www.swara.org.my or www.facebook.com/SwaraCAC for more details.