The Lost History of Indian Jazz w/ Sandhya Sanjana
There is an entire chapter of Indian music history that has shaped global music in unknown ways remains preserved only in the human memory of a select few.
Sandhya Sanjana is one of those humans.
Long before "world music" became a marketing category, she was part of a generation of home-grown South-Asian artists blurring the edges of jazz, global and Indian classical music by a trial and error met with genuine curiosity, rather than novelty.
Co-founder one of India's earliest internationally touring world-fusion ensembles, Sanjana has been more than thirty albums, and spent decades moving between radically different musical worlds without reducing either of them into aesthetic decoration.
In this conversation, we try to trace that arc.
From an upbringing between Bombay and Delhi, to the nightclub circuits of Calcutta, with first-generation Indian Jazz musicians.
From backstage blessings from Alice Coltrane after the exchange of a cassette tape, to the origins of India’s first international festival ‘Jazz Yatra’ where the appearances from the likes of icons such Art Blakey, Max Roach, Stan Getz, Freddie Hubbard and John Handy and their days in India in open exchange with local musicians threaten to fade away amidst undocumented history.
What emerges is not nostalgia, but a portrait of a generation of artists that worked without the visibility, institutional support, or mythology later scenes would inherit.
Artists building language in real time. Documenting culture through performance while remaining largely undocumented themselves.
In the words of Sandhya herself, much of that era was "not presented to the world."
This conversation tries to remember.
Listen to the second half of the episode.
Connect with Sandhya:
https://instagram.com/achhamusica
https://facebook.com/sandhyasanjana
https://youtube.com/@achha_musica
Connect with T.L. Mazumdar:
Brought to you by the Holistic Musician Academy.
Music and Audio Production: www.everynowheremusic.com
Episode Notes / Text : www.tlwrites.com
Musician/Educator, Founder: Holistic Musician Academy
Indian-German Producer/Singer-Songwriter T.L. Mazumdar grew up on 3 continents and 4 countries.
Mentored by a series of iconic musicians like Kenny Werner, Kai Eckhardt, Dr John Matthias, and the late Gary Barone, his artistic journey has aptly been described by Rolling Stone magazine as one that ‘...personifies multiculturalism’.
Time Out Mumbai has referred to him as ‘’...amongst a handful of Indian (origin) musicians who don't have to play sitars or tablas''
He has been nominated for German Music awards
Bremer Jazzpreis and Future Sounds Jazz Award, and been called ''...a major talent'' by Jack Douglas (Producer: John Lennon, Miles Davis, etc.). .
Singer/composer
Sandhya Sanjana is an Indian classically trained singer who uses this vast and rich background as a launchpad for her favourite activity - improvisation. She uses her knowledge of jazz, blues and samba as extra fuel for her journey.
She has composed/recorded/performed all over the world as a solo artists as well as a member of many leading bands. She also loves singing in clubs with some select DJs.