The Score Magazine January 2019 issue | Page 24

YOHAAN/ AMOGH RAO IN INDIA - HOUSE OF WATERS We had the privilege of interviewing the New York based Jazz band House of Waters ahead of their gig at The Quarter, Mumbai. Touring with the dulcimer. I'm sure that our audiences will be interested how you tour with the dulcimer around the world. What are the precautions taken for these delicate looking strings and wooden parts? Oh yes, it is always a nightmare to travel with the instrument. I bring the dulcimer on board and it fits in the overhead in almost every flight. Sometimes I will run in to resistance at the ticketing desk, but generally I've been able to get through any conflict. How has your India tour been? What did you like the most about Indian audiences? The tour has been incredible. We were brought here by the US mission to India, the Jazz India Circuit, Teamwork Arts, and our agency The Kurland Agency. Together they put together a beautiful tour around the country. Bangalore, Goa, Hyderabad, Delhi, Pune, and now Mumbai. The audiences everywhere have been incredible. So kind, receptive, and an absolute pleasure to play for. You've been a part of the Ground Up Festival last year, with other diverse bands from different parts of the world. What would you say about your experience? We did not play at this last GUM festival; we played in its inaugural year 2017. Playing at GUM Fest was amazing, and we're thrilled to be back in Miami for GUM Fest 2019. The community involved with GroundUP is something rare in the business these days, and we are very happy to have the association. Since you guys have come from different cultural and musical backgrounds. How do you go about adding these influences in your compositions? Combing the different influences has been very natural. We just play what is within us. The styles themselves are just details or logistics...;the only real constant is the honest window we put into our 22 The Score Magazine highonscore.com performances and our compositions. As long as that is there, the details of the music fall in to place very easily. Have you explored the indian instrument Santoor, since it's so similar to the Dulcimer? Yes! I have been studying with the great maestro Pandit Shivkumar Sharmaji for almost 10 years. I first came to India in 2009, thanks to a grant by the American Institute of Indian Studies, and was fortunate enough to start my studies of Indian Classical Music under his direction. What kind of Indian musicians have you been influenced by? Guruji is the obvious and most influential of musicians in my life in many ways, but there are so many people to look to outside of his philosophical and musical influence. Ustad Zakir Hussain, Hariji, Amir Khan Saheb, are some of my favorite musicians in Indian Classical Music, but there are tons of other musicians that have fused styles that we also deeply enjoy. From RD Burman, to Karsh Kale, to Shakti, to Anoushka Shankar, India has a wealth of information to study. As individuals, you are really skilled at your own instruments. So how does the writing process take place? Do you just jam or is there some pre-decided composition or arrangement created? There is no one way that we have written our songs. Sometimes one of us will come to the team with a fully finished piece. Other times, just an idea, and we develop it as a group. Additionally, the music always changes. We tour so much that there's only so many times you can play the same music in the same way without losing your mind. We try and keep our compositions fluid to allow for these necessary changes.