American-Indian jazz strikes a note in town

Islam has always fascinated American vocalist Kira Intrator, so she decided to get a little more serious about it. The 22-year-old, who is studying music and contemporary religion at Haverford College in the US, is on a year-long Thomas Watson Fellowship which provides funding for one year of independent study and travel.

She's been in the city for a month and will perform at Starters & More this evening. "I chose to go to Turkey, Egypt and India and study indigenous musical forms. After this, I will be going to Brazil to study the bossanova," she explains.

It's been a 'classical' journey: "I've learnt classical Arabic, and over here, I'm studying Hindustani vocal techniques from Dhanshree Pandit - it's a specialised course for western jazz singers." Music has been in her family - with her father John Intrator being a jazz violinist and her mother and brother concert pianists. Why Hindustani vocals specifically?
"The tones are different. They're almost like half-notes, that we as jazz singers don't learn," she says. 

She's enjoying every bit of her Indian sojourn. "In Cairo, women were not allowed to move around as freely, but when I came to India, it was the opposite. There was so much of colour with their bangles and beautiful sarees," she says. She's making sure her journey is not just musical. Kira is volunteering with the NGO, Yuva, where she's studying housing rights for single women in slums.

Though she's grown up in France, it's not her first time tasting Indian food. "Whenever there was a celebration, say if we got good grades, dad would take us out to an Indian restaurant! I've always loved the food."

Her performance today will be with the band Jazz Junction and will have Cyril Coutinho on saxophone, Lenny Heredia on keyboards, Colin D'Cruz on bass and Suresh Badricha on drums.
r_preeti@dnaindia.net