Utopian jazz trip
What do early 20th-century feminist science fiction and experimental jazz have in common? The only correct answer is drummer, composer and producer Sarathy Korwar. This pioneer of the British jazz scene draws inspiration in part from the utopian story Sultana’s Dream, about a land where women are in charge, cars fly, and crime doesn’t exist because men are absent. Sarathy Korwar is a master at linking social critique to an extraordinary listening experience. He has worked with major names such as Shabaka Hutchings, Anoushka Shankar and Alabaster de Plume. His sound is strongly influenced by the Indian folk music of his youth. He effortlessly weaves traditional percussion instruments like the kanjira and the tala together with avant-garde jazz and hip-hop. Subtle shifts and repetitions in the rhythm gradually build into an overwhelming expedition into the depths. Under the influence of this rhythmic cycle, a shared melodic trip emerges, through which Sarathy Korwar proves that uniting people need not be a utopia — and neither does equal rights.