China Moses enchants Dhaka

The first edition of the Jazz & Blues Fest Dhaka 2015 concluded a little past midnight at the Army Museum on Sunday, with jazz diva China Moses bringing a fitting curtain call to the capital's first encounter with the two earliest forms of World Music. Blues Communications, with support from its sponsors, made sure their brave initiative was a big success, potentially paving way for its return. 

The first performer of the night was another female-fronted ensemble, Soulmate, from Shillong. The vastly popular blues band stood out for the raspy, quite coarse vocals of Tripti 'Tips' Kharbangar  and the sweet guitar licks of Rudy Wallang, the two primary members of the group. Starting with a few originals (“Set Me Free”, I'll Be Around” and “Lie”), they impressed equally with their covers – Etta James' “Blues is My Business”, Koko Taylor's “Voodoo Woman” and Albert Collins' “If Trouble Was Money”. 

Brazillian saxophonist Esdras Nogueira was the second act of the night, and brought with him a virtually-unheard sound – that of the baritone saxophone. One of the biggest instruments in the saxophone family, the 'bari sax' is primarily a classical instrument that found its place in the big band arrangements of jazz, and is not the most common jazz solo instrument. Along with his band, he treated the audience to the tonal and textural uniqueness of his instrument, with his music borrowing influences from a host of genres. 

AB Blues club, led by Ayub Bachchu, was one of the crowd favourites on the lineup. The veteran front-man thanked the organizers for the initiative, and interacted with the audience throughout their set. They, too, started with their originals “Ondho” and “Ma'ke Bolish”, before belting out BB King's immortal “The Thrill is Gone” and “Rock Me, Baby”. “Gotokal Ratey” and “Madhobi” were next, followed by “Pride and Joy”, a Stevie Ray Vaughan classic. They closed the set with “Ami toh Prem'e Pori Ni”. While the music was adequately bluesy (mixed with AB's signature rock style), it looked at time like a second vocal could be interesting. Sasha, the saxophone player accompanying the band, was brilliant in his sections. 

But it was Paris-based American jazz diva China Moses who held the audience captive, in a magnificent display of musical storytelling. With the most enduring of smiles, she started with a Peggy Lee classic, with a twist in the lyrics: “Why don't you do right, like some men from Dhaka do?”With each song, it was as if she took the audience by the hand and walked them along a story, like an old friend would. She performed another standard – “All of Me” (by Ruth Etting), popular songs “Cry Me A River” (made popular by Julie London) and “Lover, Come Back to Me” (written for the 1928 Broadway Show “New Moon” and later made famous by Billie Holiday), Janish Joplin's “Move Over” and a number of her originals – “Lobby Call”, “Dinah's Blues” (a tribute to Dinah Washington ), “Watch Out”, and “Runnin'”. She told stories behind writing her own songs, the history of the classics, and danced and moved along like she was performing to her most ardent fans. With her closing number, classic RnB track “Rescue Me” by Fontella Bass, the entire audience stood up in rapturous applause, as an exhilarated Moses hoped to come back to Dhaka to sing for us.