GIJF Day 2: Jazz Goes East, The Sarathy Korwar Band, Sage Gateshead - April 7

(Review by Steve H)

Maybe The Sage was originally called the Stage but was renamed due to a lack of the latter. For some reason, there was an absence of any form of elevated platform for the entirety of the festival in the Northern Rock Foundation Hall. Anyone not sitting in the front rows was lucky to catch a glimpse of all the musicians not on stage. If you pay to see a concert and the ticket does not say restricted view then that is a pretty poor show.  

Whilst on the customer service front it was also very annoying that the names of musicians in the bands were not displayed anywhere let alone printed in a program. So due to these caveats, I am not able to tell you the names of the musicians in the Sarathy Korwar band on Saturday night.

However, despite these administrative annoyances, this was a thoroughly enjoyable gig.  The Nordanians, the other half of the double bill,  had played an afternoon set which is reviewed elsewhere so I'll concentrate solely on their co-headliners. 

Sarathy Korwar was born in the USA, educated in India and currently lives in London. Originally trained on tabla, he is now a percussionist and composer. The music is heavily influenced by the Siddi people of South India who originally hailed from East Africa in the seventh century as merchants, sailors and slaves. The music blends the Sufi influenced Indian folk music with contemporary electronic jazz. Samples of Siddi chants and beats blended perfectly with the live performance by the excellent band who, aside from Korwar on drums, the only other member I can name was the Tyneside regular Chris Williams on sax. Hopefully, they will come to Sage Gateshead again where they can be appreciated in a more crowd-friendly hall.

Steve H