The guitar and the piano are two iconic instruments in the music world, but they’re not often paired together. On the rare occasions that the two instruments come together, something magical is bound to happen.
Bringing together this unusual combination of strings and keys is Tinctures, a piano-guitar duo that will be performing across the country this month.
Featuring Bengaluru’s pianist and composer Aman Mahajan and Berlin-based guitarist Nishad Pandey, Tinctures plays an all-original repertoire that is an organic confluence of jazz, Western and Indian classical music with contemporary influences.
Titled ‘Heads and Tales’, their concert is a concept-based production exclusively of original material written for piano and guitar, spanning 75 minutes in duration, where each piece is conceived as a sonic experiment in which various musical games are played and concepts explored.
Looking back to where it all began, Aman recalls that he first met Nishad at a performance in Bengaluru after which they jammed together.
“Later he invited me over to play with him in a band with Pandit Debashish Bhattacharya. We kept meeting a couple of times every year and eventually decided to write some music together. This was in October 2016.”
Nishad elaborates on their collaboration: “The friendship to me is as important as the musical connection. A lot of what we do is improvised music and it relies on trust and shared sensibility. We have to get along and like the person, we’re working with. I enjoy what Aman does and vice versa. We lived in different cities – I was in Kolkata and he was in Bengaluru so it was only a few times in a year that we met. But we’ve become more friends rather than musical collaborators. It was inevitable that one day we would make something musical.”
Aman points out that “although Nishad has gone on to settle in Berlin, what actually brings us together is our shared musical interests in jazz, Western classical and Indian classical.” Nishad adds: “As well as a general love for manipulating harmony.”
That’s what led to the name too, he goes on. “We were interested in blending a few of our musical interests. Tinctures meant shades and traces of things. We liked the fact that it had a medicinal, alcoholic connotation. It was also a little mysterious. It’s an old-fashioned word associated with bygone times. At some level, I personally liked the sound of it.”
For the audience, Aman says, the takeaway is the interaction in ‘Heads and Tales’.
“These are two instruments that are not paired as a duo very often. Also, the space this kind of music occupies is not like a style the audience has heard before.” Nishad pitches in: “Making this music intelligible and accessible is beneficial, not just for the audience, but also for us. In this tour, the programme also explains the concept behind each piece. Each member of the audience can get contextual and trigger their imagination in what might otherwise sound a bit abstract.”
The song-writing process, Aman says, happened naturally. “We did not plan anything when we first met. We came up with different concepts, be it aesthetic, mathematical or musical, for different sections of tunes through which we worked in emotions and expressions. We called it concept-based compositions.”
Nishad adds that a lot of their song-writing came from playing musical games.
“Having studied music academically and practically, a part of us wanted to reclaim the joy of exploring the sounds of our instrument. These little games were fun. We were unburdened and it unlocked possibilities. So we played and explored utilising what we’ve learnt without being didactic and preaching it.”Aman reiterates that their music veers away from existing styles of music to which Nishad says: “In India, there feels like there is space for unconventional music like ours, seeing the reaction we’ve had. People are receptive. It’s almost surprising to us since we didn’t know how this will be received.”
In the future, the duo hopes to continue on an exploratory path. Nishad says: “We are planning to structure a tour where I come to India and Aman comes to Europe once a year.” Aman adds: “We also want to record our music, so an album is in the offing.”
The duo will conduct a workshop for musicians on March 6 from 4 to 6 pm at Max Mueller Bhavan, Indiranagar, where they will be touching upon their compositional methods, discuss their concepts and their manipulation of sounds.
The workshop will be followed by the ‘Heads and Tails’ concert on the same premises at 6.30 pm. Call 22511300 for details.