ganavya @Enjoy Jazz in Heidelberg

I finally made it to Enjoy Jazz, the Festival for Jazz and more which currently celebrates its 27th edition and which will run until this Saturday. The Festival started on October 2nd with various locations in Mannheim, Ludwigshafen, Heidelberg, and surrounding towns. So last night I went to Karlstorbahnhof in Heidelberg, a cultural center which opened in 1995. Singer Ganavya was on the schedule, an artist which the American press already described as “one of modern music’s most compelling artists”. Born in New York, raised in Southern India, married to a German, and now living in Germany, she was able to turn the venue into a temple. With her mesmerizing, otherworldly singing and her ability to bring the Hindu storytelling tradition of her homeland to our stages, she won the crowd over from the very first lines and with her crystal clear voice.

Playing music from her most recent album “Nilam”, which was produced by herself together with her husband Felix Grimm and pianist, composer, and producer Nils Frahm for their own Leiter label, she clearly dominated the stage with her pristine presence. Mostly singing in her native language, she delivered several trance-like pieces with splendid support from bassist Max Ridley and harpist Charles Overton who, with their repetitive patterns, supported Ganavya with some mantra-like soundscapes, perfectly flattering the spirituality of the leader’s voice. With pieces like “Land”, the opening track from “Nilam”, she gave us the best example of how poems which were recited at home back in the days, are set to music; in enticing and enthralling, always enchanting ways taking the listener on a dreamlike journey.