Grooving to the blues of Fran Molina Trio

Thiruvananthapuram: It was around 13 years ago that Spanish musician Fran Molino last visited India. Fran is now back with a different band—Fran Molina Trio— comprising of drummer Fernando Alandez and pianist Carlos Gonzales. The Madrid-based band, which has been travelling across the nation for the past 10 days, performed at Tagore Theatre on Wednesday evening.
The event, organized by Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), in association with the Bharat Bhavan, introduced an evening of Spanish jazz music to the city folks. The band also had a performance of fusion music with resident singer Akhil Jaya Chand. Akhil and Fran sang Carnatic and Spanish songs to create a magical combination of beautiful music without boundaries.

According to Fran, the Indian experience has always been wonderful. “When we visit countries, we love to explore and hence jam with local musicians. Here, we have Carnatic vocals of Akhil with us. In Kolkata, we had a Kathak dancer and in Delhi, we combined with a Sitar player,” he said.

Akhil who performed with the band for the concluding part said that the experience was beyond expectations. “I owe all the credits to my late friend, mentor and bandmate, jazz guitarist John Antony. Johnny told me once that I should always sing to the groove and that’s exactly why I blended with Fran Molina Trio so quickly today,” he said.