Coming hot on the heels of the Taichung Jazz Festival, which ended only last weekend, the city will play host to yet another jazz event, this time a one-off, but no less anticipated for the talent sweeping through town.
The concert tomorrow, called Classic Meets Cuban, is a union of the Klazz Brothers from Germany and two outstanding jazz percussionists from Cuba. As a marriage of styles, the Klazz Brothers bring a longstanding reputation for their work in classical music for the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra, while Alexis Herrera Estevez and Elio Rodriguez Luis add the diversity of styles for which their native Cuba is so well known.
The ensemble has gained its acclaim since its founding a few years ago for Cuban jazz-inspired reworkings of classical pieces by Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert, Bach, Bizet and other masters.
It may sound like a clash of styles, especially when conceptualizing Mozart's Symphony No. 40 in Latin form with the blatantly latinized title Mambozart, but the results are surprisingly pleasant. For one, the Cuban element dominates and brings a level of energy that lovers of the original pieces will be unaccustomed to hearing.
Underpinning each song is the strength of the Klazz Brothers, who are made up of Kilian and Tobias Forster and Tim Hahn. The solid classical formations of these three are evident in the easy manner in which the latin fusions sound improvised -- as if recorded on a Havana sidewalk. It's not just anyone, after all, who can turn Beethoven's Fur Elise into a riling salsa number, or Chopin's Tristesse Etude into a sexually super-charged rumba.
For that kind of originality, the music relies heavily on the Cuban percussion provided by some of the strongest talents from that country. Estevez has been a member of Cuba's premier Latin Jazz group, the Havana Ensemble, since 1997 and has cooperated with Compay Segundo of the Buena Vista Social Club along with other Cuban jazz masters. He is the timbalist in the Classic Meets Cuban lineup. Luis is the band's conga player and, like Estevez, has been a part of the Havana Ensemble since 1997.
All the tinkering with classical masterpieces could make the Klazz Brothers and Cuban Percussion group either hopeless apostates or radical luminaries of musical and cultural interaction. That depends on how sacrosanct one views classical masterpieces to be. But most importantly, the energy of the band is genuine and the joining of styles comes across as complementary instead of grating or specious, as it does in other fusion experiments such as Bond or China's 12 Girls Band.
The band will be swinging their way to Taiwan on a quick leg of an Asian tour for one show that should provide a nice bookend to Taichung's short jazz season.
The Classic Meets Cuban is tomorrow at Taichung Chungshan Hall, 98 Hsuehshih Rd, Taichung (台中市學士路98號). Tickets are NT$300 to NT$2,500, available through Era ticketing outlets or at www.ticket.com.tw.
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