Joachim Kühn / Majid Bekkas / Ramon Lopez »Chalaba«

Križanke Open-air Theatre, 3 July 2014

The concert by In the Country embraced both of this year’s focuses: Norwegian jazz and the piano. Overall, the keyboard instrument formed a highly prominent part of last night’s programme that featured three piano trios. The highlight of the evening – as concerns the attendance as well as the quality of performance – was indubitably the Joachim Kühn / Majid Bekkas / Ramón López “Chalaba” trio.

The doyen of German jazz, Joachim Kühn, was in a buoyant mood that also rubbed off on his two co-players. The pianist, whose expansive sound is marked by his rich experience, enthralled the audience by freely floating across the keyboard, creating music that nevertheless retained its melodiousness and distinctly refined rhythm. Set in Arabic metre, the rhythm was maintained by Majid Bekkas on guembri, a traditional Moroccan stringed instrument, and by singing mesmerising chants, and heightened by Spanish drummer and percussionist Ramón López. Many pieces were played in the style of blues, with suggestions of Arabic and African music, as well as reiterated, loopy rhythmic patterns on guembri, sensual theme exploration on the piano and López’s layered rhythm-supply. The enthralled listeners appreciated the solid vision of imbuing tradition with contemporary elements as well as the dedication displayed by the three virtuosic musicians whose individual expressions merged into one delightful synergy of sound.

Mario Batelić

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Photo Nada Žgank