By Anil Datta
Karachi: Perhaps Karachi’s teeming music buffs could not have asked for a more entertaining musical soiree, beautifully diverse and enlivening.
Held under the open skies in the patio of the Alliance Francaise, Karachi, the evening featured numbers from across the musical spectrum. There were numbers from the Romantic Era (Chopin), to the nostalgia-evoking Elvis Presley hits of the 50s, to light numbers bordering on pop, and everything in between. You name it and they had it.
The programme got going with Nasir Ali rendering two numbers on the violin, themes from The Godfather and Love Story, with the most deft piano accompaniment by Ms Hiroko Yasunari from the Karachi Japanese School.
The precise interpretation of the two themes catapulted one back to the 1970s , a nostalgic reminder of the age of the cinema when these movies were running in the city’s movie theatres. He had a really professional touch and later it turned out that he was a professional playing for various orchestras for playback music for movies and television.
Currently he is teaching at the Children’s Academy of Performing Arts (CAPA). This was followed by an abrupt change, back into the Romantic Era with David Alfrey rendering a Mazurka (pronounced Myurka) by Frederic Francois Chopin, Opus 67, No 4 on the piano. David certainly is an adept pianist and his interpretation was really so astute. Paradoxically enough, even though slow and lilting, the piece had an element of the vibrancy and perky nature of Chopin’s compositions. Chopin’s Mazurka was preceded by a composition by French composer, Faure, a slow, lilting, somewhat melancholy piece, again most adroitly rendered by Alfrey.
This was followed by another piece which, although from nineteenth century Europe, Italy to be more precise, was totally different from Chopin. It was a rendition of the legendary Italian song, O Sole Mio, a song synonymous with Italy, something that brings to mind vivid scenes of the country. The rendition, by the Karachi Vocal Ensemble comprised four female voices, sopranos, and one male voice, the tenor, Omar Jameel, who also compered the programme.
There was plenty to be nostalgic about. Children of the Karachi Japanese School gave a beautiful rendition of Love Me Tender on the hand bells. This must have been a nostalgic trip back into time for those among us old enough to remember the 1950s when the number was originally rendered by the late Elvis Presly, a number that really launched him on the road to fame and made him an idol. However, while PresleyÂ’s style was loud and flamboyant, the children’s rendition was very soft, and mellow. Even though most children were in the seven-eight age group, the coordination among them was so very masterly.
Again there was a number by the children of the Karachi Japanese School, Salut D’Amour, a composition by the early 20th century British composer, Sir Edward Elgar, featuring a keyboard, two recorders, and other wind instruments.
Another impressive performance was one by the CAPA children, a rendition of “Blowing in the wind”, a composition by Bob Dylan, the lyric being a protest against war and killing. The number is a product of the 1960s when the Vietnam War was running into real flak at home in the US and the American public was clamouring for its end. It was a reminder of the era of hippidom and flower power. The finale had a charm all its own.
It was a vocal rendition by the Karachi Vocal Ensemble and the Karachi Japanese School of “It’s a small World” One of the children brimming over with all the gusto and enthusiasm, sang at the top of his voice, as loud as he possibly could, right into the microphone,as if he were in a competition to drown the voices of all the others and outdo the whole ensemble. It was this childlike innocence that lent the whole rendition additional charm. All credit to the Alliance Francaise Karachi, for such a refreshing soiree.
Source: The News
Date:2/12/2010
