Percussionist and Teacher, Drum Talk, 3 July 2003

"Music is fantastic, politics isn't," said Hakim Ludin, an Afghan percussionist and teacher at the Bavarian Academy of Music, warming up the audience during his performance at the fourth edition of the Perkusja Festival of Percussion Art 2003. It was Ludin's second performance in Poland; this time he presented a variety of instruments one by one. The tradition of the oldest of them stretches back 30,000 years.

Ludin's concert was a dialogue with the audience, who spontaneously reacted to the changing rhythms. The stage was then taken by Karuna Murthy (see photo) from India, who played the thavila. At the end of the performance, the musicians played together, talking with each other and with the audience, casting away all doubt that art could be anything other than a conversation.

Warzcaw Voice

The World Percussion Trio at Rhythm Sticks 2003 , Tuesday 22nd July

The evening began with a large round of applause when Steve Smith came on stage and gave the background on the World Percussion Trio before introducing his friend, percussionist Hakim Ludin.
Hakim began his solo set with a piece on a Frame Drum, starting off quietly and building up and then back down again. Afterwards, he moved over to the main part of his percussion rig to play some pieces on congas and bongos augmented with some small cymbals.
Not being a percussionist myself, I was (somewhat naively) unaware of just how loud a pair of bongos can actually be, despite them obviously being miked-up and furthermore just how versatile they could be as well. This was exemplified when Hakim slipped ‘Happy Birthday’ into the middle of one of his pieces. Hakim had a real obvious love and proficiency for his instruments and I for one learned something from his playing.
Next up was a young Indian guy called Karuna Murthy on his first visit to London who played a traditional Indian instrument called a Tavil. Before he started playing, Karuna explained the Tavil’s history and significance in Indian culture. After composing himself, sitting crossed-legged on the floor with his instrument in front of him, he began to play.
The Tavil itself is a two-headed drum and produces two distinct tones with some additional sounds being obtained from other parts of the drum. Karuna played what seemed to be ‘snare’ parts with his right hand and ‘bass’ parts with his left with a beater, often playing one against the other to produce some interesting and very rapid rhythms. Karuna concluded to a huge round of applause.
After a short break, Steve Smith came out and took centre stage and before playing a single note gave a brief history of the drum set and its origins. As something of a natural progression on from his talk, he then played just a snare drum with brushes and proceeded to very much dazzle everyone with some fantastic music and drumming.
Now obviously you’d expect a solo from Steve Smith to be good, but I was surprised at how truly musical he was in his approach and execution, something that is sadly missing from a large percentage of the so-called top drummers of today. Incorporating pieces from ‘The Drum Also Waltzes’ by Max Roach and ‘Take 5’ by Dave Brubeck and also several different styles of drumming such as New Orleans, he played for quite a while before finishing up.
As the final piece of the show, all three players got together for a jam that took on, amongst other things, a call-and-response format. The three of them were obviously enjoying themselves, Karuna especially and it was a pleasure to witness.
I can honestly say that this was one of the single coolest events I have seen since I’ve been playing and I really enjoyed myself. Steve, Hakim and Karuna were on top form and not only gave top performances, but provided a real education as well.
Somewhat surprisingly, the only ‘celeb’ I saw in the audience was percussionist Peter Lockett – I thought these three, or at least Steve Smith would have brought more of them out. Maybe they all saw him Sunday. Oh well, their loss…

Dave Bateman

Led by US master kit drummer Steve Smith, this is a festival highlight. The second the trio play their last flourish the audience is on its feet clapping and cheering - such is the exhilaration generated by these three totally different drummers.
Afghan Hakim Ludin opens the show taking a beautifully textured frame drum solo. Moving on to the bongos he elicits a range of tones I've never heard before. Next comes Karuna Murthy playing the ancient Tavil. "You can't get married in South India without the instrument being played", he explains. The extraordinary sound is quite a shock. The right hand fingers have thimble-like tappers which produce a shrill clattering like horse hooves on cobble stones, while the left hand utilises a stick for deeper sounds. As Karuna stokes up the beat his head sways in a frenzied trance. After the interval Smith dumfounds us with his virtuosity, improvising on pieces inspired by his great predecessors Catlett (brushes), Roach (3/4) and Morello (5/4). Musical, melodic and very, very clever. For the climax the trio played an extended piece with gasp-inducing unisons, interplay and solos. This is what Rhythm Sticks is all about.

Geoff Nicholls, Rhythm, U.K.