Carmen & David

I had only seen a poster of them at the Alliance Francaise Delhi a few days back and made a mental note to try and see the concert there (at AFD) on 20th March. I had no idea about their music but just the thought of minimalist arrangement- the poster showed Carmen, who I figured would be doing vocals, and David holding a semi-acoustic guitar- made me want to hear them. The poster reminded me of Tuck & Patti, whose music I quite like, primarily because of Tuck's finger-picking style. The poster also said jazz somewhere I think and that stuck in my mind as well!

So I reached about 45mins early. Decided on the third row from the front toward the right as we faced the stage, the place aimed at getting a good view of the guitarist. I love observing the finger movements and the shapes the hands take when making chords. The concert was to begin at seven and I killed time counting lights on the top (3 of the 16 were not working), looking at the cement chipped from the stairs, wondering if the auditorium would be better with carpeting and how the acoustics of it all were worked out. The roof was dotted with tiny holes on what looked like thermocole sheets. The chairs were wooden and without any cushions. There were just three or four other people so far.

I looked at the arrangement on the stage. A small stool stood on the left with a stand for putting the sheet music, surely for the guitarist this. A chair in the middle, this one cushioned and I wondered how it would be to sit on it compared to where I was sitting presently. And a small snare drum stood on the right, which surely someone would have to play standing up. I wondered how it would be for the drummer to be the only one standing out of the three. And then also thought why no drummer was there on the poster. I was mentally prepared for two!

Then people slowly poured in. I glanced back to see how full the auditorium was by now. It didn't look packed and I thought what the musicians would feel if there were going to be only so many people for the show. And what audiences and their numbers meant to musicians. Then on the far left in my row I caught a friend's eye. Laurel then came and sat next to me. I asked if she knew them or their music, for they were Canadian and so was she. But she's not from the French speaking side of that country and had not heard of them. The place now seemed packed. The Canadian High Commissioner, along with some other gentleman, took the stage and introduced the event. It was the francophone week and there were other acts lined up as well. After introductions, which were partly in French (I now understood a bit after 2 semesters!) and partly in English, finally- Carmen & David!

Carmen had brushes in her hand so I figured she would be on the percussion too. No third person! Gave me some satisfaction, I don't know why.

They right broke into a song, a French one. And from the first note David hit on the guitar, I knew I was going to like the concert. He had a typical jazz style- hitting the strings with the fingers of the right hand softly, finger picking, muting, damping, and the chords flowing smoothly from the left hand. For that first song I hardly took my eyes of the fret-board. Carmen’s vocals were going in my head in an almost backdoor fashion. But once inside, they demanded attention as well. But before long, we were led to the end of the song. And I mean literally held by the hand and led! Then the ‘bonsoirs’ happened and we got amongst other songs, Gershwin’s Foggy Day in London Town. I had so far only heard the slow Sinatra version but this one had a slightly faster tempo and Carmen’s powerful vocals were evocative of the jazz I had seen on the telly from the recordings of artists from 60s/70s. By now, I was paying equal attention to Carmen’s wonderfully controlled voice. Dressed in black with hair a hue of blue, she played the drum with the brushes that hardly seemed to be moving at all but kept the rhythm all the same. I noticed she wasn’t really playing with her wrists as much but more with a loosening and tightening of the grip on the brush. The French songs, to be honest, I loved but could not register the names very well. The songs themselves threw words which meant something to me at times and were simply like a hum otherwise. It’s great listening to music in a language that’s new to you but not entirely. You feel like the meaning is filtering in your head like a feeling which you cannot really retell again. If someone were to ask me if I was understanding it, I think I would feel yes but may say no lest I’m asked to explain.

The French songs I do remember she sang are À Paris, La Mamma, Laissez Danser and Johnny- Tu N’es Pas Un Ange. Tu-pe-tu-pa-tu-de-do-da-dum-di-da-de-da-de-dum… some songs were punctuated with lovely fillers that are synonymous with jazz I guess. There was a lovely surprise, Beatles’ ‘Ticket to ride’ and ‘I wanna be your lover’. The latter is I think was sung by George Harrison and I’ve also heard a less popular Rolling Stones take on it. But the jazz versions of both numbers were really great! Carmen’s vocal range is awesome, she dropped to quite a low pitch while doing these songs without any trace of losing volume or control and then of course her talent with higher notes cut across as well. As for the guitar, evidently, the chord changes were really hectic to follow. It looked like David went up and down the fret board more than twice in the course of a line! I was reminded of Tommy Emmanuel’s (CGP) versions of the Beatles numbers (his Day Tripper is a classic; I mean as much of a classic that the original one is!), which are really masterpieces of finger-picking guitar. They are fun but also lend some academic sort of seriousness to Beatles’ music, which surely the originals never intended!

The concert lasted for maybe about an hour and a half. I finally bought their CD, ‘Swing Manouche’ after the concert and tried to complement them in French. Tuck & Patti was all David could get I guess!

Now let me say something that I should have said right at the top- I don’t really understand jazz much although I’ve tried a couple of times and still hope to continue. Carmen & David had an easy jazz style where the measure of unpredictability is not very great and perhaps that’s why their music did seem to flow rather gently in the ears in an almost expected way. Tuck & Patti’s and their music really seems quite close.

Finally, there was a Portuguese number called Lembrar-me I think (Remember me). The guitar on it was beautiful. David’s work on melodies played in single notes and then the shift to broken chords played with exquisite finger picking and full strums with various patterns were I think a great reflection of years of his hard work on the instrument.
I’m looking forward to exploring them on CD now.