Southeast Asian Jazz

In an article entitled Jazz in Singapore: From Swing to Post-Bop and Beyond (The Arts Oct/Nov 2003: 36-40 - published by The Centre for the Arts, NUS) I outlined the evolution of jazz in Singapore from its introduction to our country in the second decade of the twentieth century to the year 2003; my conclusion then was that
... jazz in Singapore has developed over the years
from a musical art demonstrated by expatriates
to one where the participation of Singaporeans
continues to become a more and more prominent
feature. But it is difficult to point to an indigeneous jazz
style as yet since much of the jazz played here has
developed on the back of swing,
blues, bebop, hard bop and other American
variants - many of which exist side by side
simultaneously... (p.40)
Although individuals like Julai Tan, Sid Gomez, Claude Oliveiro, Jeremy Monteiro, Boni de Souza, Jacintha Abisheganaden and others provided attractively distinct variants of a kind of global jazz one felt that it was not quite appropriate to search for a rootedness in any Southeast Asian cultural form; their jazz is the jazz of individuals exploring within the context of a largely American idiom - occasionally mixed with Latin flavours - possessing little, if any, linkage with Southeast Asian mother cultures. There are complex reasons for this and urbanization, modern technology, Western education, contemporary media developments etc... all undoubtedly played a role in the evolution of jazz culture in Singapore; the culture of jazz for our musicians was largely incubated in an environment where the musicians were nourished by no other kind of music - with the exception of the Western classical variety.

In addition, the plethora of expatriate musicians made it difficult for a distinctly Singapore variety to emerge since this factor made for the growth of the international species. Perhaps, the strongest pioneering attempts to break away from from this stranglehold was a form of world music rather than jazz that made a fleeting appearance on the Singapore music scene in the mid-eighties and early nineties, I believe - pioneered by classical guitarist Alex Abisheganaden and bassist Joe Peters...

Jazz in the Philippines undoubtedly had a headstart over jazz in other parts of Southeast Asia and the country has supplied innumerable musicians and teachers of music to other parts of our region; the country has also supplied even the US with musicians - playing what would largely be American jazz (if the phrase is not a misnomer); the musical history of the Philippines has been overlain with the influence of three centuries of Spanish rule so the absorption of Western musical forms might have been almost an inevitable development.

However, with Indonesia, the case seems to be quite different. A group called Indojazz performing in Singapore for the first time from 9-10 Dec. 2004 (Esplanade Recital Studio) has shown the vitality and viability of Indonesia's Balinese musical roots through the incorporation of gamelan instruments in a highly charged, percussive musical setup with jazz drumming and electronic keyboards. It was a marvel to witness the stirringly seamless fusion - in a kind of acid jazz context - of ancient rhythms and contemporary melodic improvisational phrasing... The Indonesians appear to have arrived on the threshold of a new form of jazz; three cheers! Although limited in nature their musical achievement would help pave the way for a seamless synthesis between contemporary and traditional modes of music in the evolution of jazz in Southeast Asia.

Moving towards World Music

Classic meets Cuba performed at the Univ. Cultural Centre recently. It was a combination of three German classical musicians & two Cuban percussionists. Without doubt all were fine instrumentalists; the Germans: pianist, bassist & jazz drummer showed outstanding skills as soloists and the Cubans on conga & timbales were equally skillful on their own. However, when they combined, the music they produced sounded so much like old-fashioned Latin music of the fifties and sixties that it was difficult restraining a smile when the compere called it contemporary music.
One problem when trying to blend European Classical music & Latin Rhythms is that there is often inadequate fusion of the two strands; the integration is incomplete - which leads to the listener not knowing how to respond since the two traditions appear to retain their own distinctive styles more appropriate to solo recitals in their separate modes. In other words there has to be a development of listening and playing skills alongside each other for years - very much like incubating culture - before an authentic blend can emerge; it is not just an inclusion of instrumentalists from two different traditions that would produce a satisfactory blend overnight.
Apropos of this, it would be instrumental to look at the way the Bossa Nova form came into the American jazz scene via collaboration between Stan Getz, the American sax legend & Brazilian singers like Astrud Gilberto or composers like Jobim; in this case there is fusion between a Brazilian mode & the American jazz style largely thru the dominance of one - the Bossa Nova mode - & a deep structure penetration of this thru the sax interpretation that infuses the whole mode with its particular improvisional slant. Stan Getz's Mind Games Album provides a convincing illustration of the success of this blending.
Another example that springs to mind is the collaboration between Paco De Lucia the Flamenco legend & the jazz guitarists Al Di Meola & John McLaughlin in their The Guitar Trio Album; here the blend between Flamenco & jazz is seamless, largely because of the dominance of the Flamenco mode with jazz supplying supporting interpretations... In this respect the use of the electric bass (normally associated with funk or acid jazz) & African instruments like the kora in the typical Flamenco groups of the younger generation Spanish guitar bands like Ketama (Canciones Hondas) provide shining guideposts for the future of world music...
Bearing this in mind it might seem foolhardy for ethnicists to think in terms of maintaining an uncontaminated musical culture; as long as globalisation is ongoing & other cultures receive a hearing over the cyber waves, attempts at narcissistic posturing would eventually go the way of the dodo...

Sometimes, even world music would appear to be taking a step
back if basic considerations regarding technque & skill are not
given adequate attention. This appears to be the case with portions
of the recital by Femi Kuti & the Positive Force given at the
Esplanade Concert Hall on 18th March 2007. While there was an
appreciable amount spontaneity displayed by the group - especially
the three butt-wagging dancers - listening to the very simple melodic
sequences that Femi struggled to evoke from the trumpet,
saxophone & assorted instruments made it seem that the Positive
Force was teetering on the brink of being a Negative Force.
One is pleased enough that Femi is endowed with damned strong &
distinctive vocals & a fairly firm sense of social values in his
lyrics (we don't ask for more)...

NB The Japanese jazz icon Sadao Wantanabe shows the way to
world music in his performance at the Espalanade in Singapore
on 26 Nov. '07. The seventy-four year old showed that he has
not yet stopped evolving when he demonstrated how he has
integrated Senegalese percussion into his latest performance.
His percussionist is none other than N'diasse Niang - the
celebrated percussion leader from the Senegalese national
orchestra who has since settled down in Japan with his Japanese
bride. In an amazingly vibrant concert Sadao showed how African
rhythms could provide unusually energetic yet harmonically
wholesome backing for a jazzy swinging style...

Singapore Guitaristico

The first week of September 2004 has been great for Spanish guitar music afficionados in Singapore; we've had the likes of Paco Pena, Carlos Barbosa-Lima, Stefano Grondona, Judicael Perroy, Peter Finger & Muriel Anderson performing at the Old Vic. You might say it was a cosmopolitan offering of acoustic guitar music - guitar masters from Spain, Brazil, Italy, France, Germany, & the USA were represented - the Spanish guitar gone global.
I was at the performances of the first two: Paco Pena & Carlos Barbosa-Lima. As expected Paco's offerings were mainstream Flamenco eg Farrucas, Bulerias and Soleares. The technique was masterly; his fingers were magical in their pinpoint accuracy and his percussive strumming showed divine artistry.
Yet, the audience clapped with vigour only when he descended to the simpler tunes; the more complex ones seemed to be beyond their grasp and although he revealed a great deal of scholarship vis-a-vis the background of Flamenco culture this appeared not to have impressed them.
Paco appeared to be aware of some gap between the audience and himself because he indicated that a complete Flamenco performance would require vocals and dancing as well since he himself leads the Paco Pena Flamenco Dance Company; it would appear that as far as solo Flamenco recitals go, great performers need great audiences to appreciate them...
Carlos Barbosa-Lima seemed to have struck a chord with his audience perhaps because the music was right for them - after all everyone can appreciate the Bossa Nova, while many are fairly familiar with dance music and Stan Getz about a decade ago had introduced bossa nova to the world of jazz. The compositions of Bonfa, Jobim, Gershwin, Scott Joplin which Carlos played made for a varied and colourful platter for the Singapore audience and the clapping was raised by quite a few decibels...
My regret was not being able to take in all the performances during the Guitar Festival week kindly provided by Tomas. Let's hope it's not just feast or fasting for Spanish guitar afficionados. (Let's also hope such first-rate performances would be held at the Esplanade rather than the creaky Old Vic which - with all due respects to our heritage - cannot match the acoustics in the new place). Just a month or so before I was glad to be at the performance of Alvaro Sanchez (at the Old Vic), the Colombian Flamenco guitarist who studied with Paco de Lucia; he's settled down in Singapore apparently and would be likely to tune up our guitar scene to finer crescendos, I hope...
NB September 2005 is just around the corner and we're looking forward to the new installment of the International Guitar Festival. There appears to be a good mix
of classical, flamenco, latino & jazz styles in the offing & names like
Oscar Herrero, Fabio Zanon have appeared in the flyers...