Collaborations with Phil Scarff (USA) in January and May 2024

by Jagadeesh Ramanujam Mudambi

Core to our own growth as musicians, our ensemble, MoonArra welcomes collaborating, a refreshing initiative for each musician to explore other musical ideas and skills and present a confluence to the audience. As a musical entity, we explore similarities rather than differences. We have a unique way to present our music live or recorded. Over the years, we have collaborated with musicians from Asia, Europe, and Africa.

Phil Scarff, a saxophonist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., has had a long association with India and Indian Classical music. In December 2023, Phil wrote me about his tour of India in January 2024, and how he was keen to perform concerts with us in Bengaluru. It set us to thinking about a series of collaborative concerts.

Co-founder of MoonArra, Madhuri Jagadeesh is a vocalist and composer who conceptualised a production around the theme of how we are strongly connected to the environment. Since Phil comes from both Jazz and Indian classical backgrounds, his music resonated with our background.

April is Jazz Appreciation Month, and we endeavour to break stereotypes surrounding Jazz, particularly, here in India. The general perception even from serious musicians of other genres is that Jazz is some sort of simplistic form of music, not worthy of grand stages.

While using and sometimes even plagiarising from Jazz, Indian Cinema has done its level best to not show Jazz as an art form, not even as quality entertainment but as something having no depth, fit for bordellos. Classical musicians and audiences are too high brow for Jazz or any other form of music.

Hence, our constant endeavour is to present Indian Opera and MoonJazz in live and recorded formats to showcase Jazz as a musical form that takes in everything and is played in night clubs and concert halls. During our trip to Europe in May 2024, we will explore existing partnerships and establish future collaborations.

April ended with our annual International Jazz Day celebrations, over three days – one for the very young, one for the pros, and one day when we present lecture demonstrations using our own compositions and those of Dr. Prakash Sontakke, a renowned slide guitar player and vocalist with whom we have collaborated, in the past. Our projects bring together musical forms to highlight our contributions to Jazz in the context of India and the stylistic innovations we made to create a synthesis. Jazz is a musical form that is evolving every moment, posing new challenges to the East and West.

Jagadeesh Ramanujam Mudambi Founder, Composer, Guitarist - MoonArra World Fusion Director - The Bangalore School of Music (RT Nagar) Whitefield, Bengaluru, INDIA 9844245577 www.moonarra.com