Qilin Quartet + Darren Moore and Suresh Vaidyanathan. Sultan Sunrise

Last week was a bit busy for us. We went to the gallery opening of Vertical Horizons at the Artistry, a show displaying some stunning and alternative, views of Hong Kong. We saw a capoeira show at the Istana park, a book fair in the national museum, and several music bars including a revisit to the Sportsman. There are two music events in particular that I wanted particularly to make note off. I hope to share some details about them in my next two posts.

 The first one of the two events, that I felt were particularly interesting, was at Sultan Jazz club last Tuesday (15 Oct) evening. It was announced as Double Bill. This turned out to be two sets for two different sets of performers.

The first set was The Qilin Quartet a wonderful instrumental band with:

Kailin Yong leading on violin

 Wei Xiang on piano

 Felix Phang on bass

Pablo Calzado on drums.

It was a set of cool tunes driven by the funky vibes off of Kailin’s violin, an unusual instrument on the Singapore jazz scene but next to the flute definitely one of my favorites.

While Felix and Wei played a solid set with really interesting solos...

it was Pablo who at times went wild on his drums and percussion instruments. It was as if he was extra inspired knowing what was to follow.

The second set was reserved for Darren Moore and Suresh Vaidyanathan. 

This was the in our opinion the rare piece that we had specifically wanted to see. I have heard Darren talk about Suresh often and have a copy of their collaborative album Territorium, but I had never heard or seen Suresh play live. 

I am particularly fascinated by the ghatam. I understand it is specifically designed as a percussion instrument though visually it is nothing other than a clay pot. In the hands of a skilled player like Suresh, this seemingly simple pot allows for an amazing variety of sound. The speed with which Suresh fingers are hammering down on that clay is so fast that he can make a drum roll flow like it was water from the ghatam’s domestic equivalent.  

Darren on drums played an equal role in the duet. He was highly concentrated in a relaxed way, and, at times, drove even more speed into the set. 

Playing clearly Indian inspired rhythms on a, what I would call “regular”, drum set gives them undeniably an extra dimension but when they are matched up by a virtuoso on a ghatam, it becomes and exiting duel between east and west. Or should I say east and further east to recognize Darren’s Australian origin.