A musical night with Nim Sofyan

 After an emotionally tempestuous week during which I receded into a very rarely used shell, I needed something supernatural to get me recharged. And this time, it was a bunch of six guys from different parts of Europe calling themselves Nim Sofyan, who brought me back to life, and restored by faith in the fact that good music can not only pump life back into you, it can also even give you a much needed kick sometimes.

Nim Sofyan has members from Turkey, Austria, Finland, etc and truly encompass what we call world music. And they didn’t disappoint – not by a far shot. Infact, I’d go as far to say that they are the best I’ve heard in a long time – A fact probably endorsed by a very fastidious jury of music connoisseurs who gave them the 2004 World Music award. The multicultural and interdisciplinary band lived up to their label by delivering a variety of sounds from Balkans and Mediterranean (most notably Turkey, Greece, Armenia and Finland) with a dash of flamenco, jazz and funk.

Every member was really an epiphany – dominant in atleast one piece, showcasing his prodigious talent. Alp Bora, the lead singer and guitarist of Turkish descent, sang some melodious Turkish songs, well aided by his trumpeter, Johann Ottl, Saxophonist Gerald Selig, bassist Roland Mach, percussionist Daniel Klemmer and violinist Paul Dangl. Each of them were really doing their own thing, yet every note was perfectly in harmony. Every musical note from each instrument stood out, while fitting well with the others, creating an ethereal effect and painting an abstract picture of the culture it came from.

The Armenian song Zepur Gi Tarnam, was a hit with the audience with its groovy and upbeat rhythm backed well by the percussionist’s beats. Of all the individual performances, the most paradigm-breaking for me though was the percussionist Klemmer, who showed the audience that spoons can be used for more than just eating (not counting some hideous things people use them for). He made music for almost 10 minutes with merely two spoons, holding them deftly between two fingers, and composing one of the most audacious and fascinating solo piece (probably the only one of its kind I’ve heard so far in my life) by striking them at will against his palm and thighs. I swear to God, and (I speak for every captivated soul in the hall perhaps), it was fantabulous. This Klemmer guy should be given an award for just that! (Perhaps our own percussionist Shivamani can exchange tips with him sometime). You had to see it to believe it!

The best part about the performance was that the songs were an immaculate mix of not only all styles and genres, but also eclectic beats, tempos and rhythms. Some were soulful ballad-like renditions of folk songs while others were more adrenaline-pumping, catchy numbers starting off as susurrations, and culminating in majestic crescendos, blowing the crowd away. The tour de force were the last two numbers in which the band invited two Indian classical instrumentalists (playing Shahnai and Tabla) to join them, creating the best of fusion music I’ve heard in a live concert yet. And – hold your breath for this one - they met only three hours prior to the concert.

If you are looking for a very different sound, I’d heartily recommend checking their stuff out.

Nim Sofyan's "Divane" - a beautiful soundtrack with the Indian touch: