SNJO & Trilok Gurtu, Edinburgh review: 'a majestic river of sound'

SNJO & Trilok Gurtu, Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh ★★★★★

Trilok Gurtu is as thirled to his bucket as Oor Wullie, except that the renowned Indian percussion virtuoso doesn’t sit on his but fills it with water to create extraordinary sounds, of which more later. In this memorable collaboration, the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra, whose director Tommy Smith toured with Gurtu some 30 years ago, joined the percussionist in arrangements of his music by German composer Wolf Kerschek.

Gurtu launched the proceedings with a fusillade of staccato konokol vocables, Smith and others initially on flutes and Calum Gourlay’s bass guitar muttering below, before the whole band worked up a groove, sounding at times like a great, unstoppable machine as foil to Gurtu’s drum excursions, as he coaxed the distinctive rattle, whirr and thwack from his tablas or sparred with SNJO drummer Alyn Cosker.

Trilok Gurtu | Contributed

The titular 21 Spices, inspired, apparently, by an elaborate curry, was a notable example, enlisting the full, thundering forces of the big band, including a turbulent trumpet solo from Sean Gibbs and stentorian tenor sax break from Smith. Bridges, on the other hand cruised at a more leisurely pace, Smith soloing over Gurtu’s tabla beat as the band created a majestic river of sound.

In the kind of pyrotechnics for which he is famous, Gurtu deployed assorted percussion gewgaws, echoing chants and bird calls, while the fabled bucket was brought into play, rattles and gongs lowered into it to weirdly wobbly effect, before he returned to tablas and the band were up and running again in irresistible forward motion.

An encore saw him coax the audience into creating a sibilant rhythmic chorus over which he sang and vocalised, joined by Smith on sax, in a heartwarming act of konokol communion.

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