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Infectious jazz quartet goes back to Roots
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March 3, 2010
 By Gisele Turner
It was a packed house that settled to listen to the virtuoso quartet Babu at the Centre for Jazz and Popular Music last week. Currently setting up a tour circuit for themselves in the country, this Cape-based ensemble is gathering fans fast and furiously with its unique sound brand.
But let me hold my horses a while and introduce the band: Kesivan Naidoo on drum kit and cymbals (and, according to charming spokesman Shane Cooper, his mother's door bell) Ronan Skillen on tabla, didgeridoo and extended percussion, Reza Khota on guitar and special effects and Shane Cooper on bass.
They make an appealing group to watch. Naidoo has the classic dark-eyed good looks of an Indian hero, Skillen looks like the eternally beautiful dreamy hippy, Khota is lean, a sharp dresser with neat spunky style and Cooper lets his warm-hearted voice and dazzling fingers do the talking.
Babu is a foursome match made in some obscure heaven, where the musical deities ensure that people from diverse backgrounds come together with purpose and creative design to consummate some deep-reaching karmic longing.
It's good to let the musos tell you the genre of the music they play.
"Babu fuses the complexity and vibrancy of jazz with the long-standing improvisational practices of Indian classical music, which has had an extensive history of spirituality in music. This fusion of two streams of musical expression taps into the more complex realms of human experience - the subconscious, perhaps mystical world - through the medium of four experienced, diverse, technically-impressive musicians.
"With great faith, love and a willing audience, the performance occasion can bring our minds together to test the depth of ecstasy in music and leave the room charged with exhilaration, respect and love for all life.
"While providing a fresh perspective in their compositions, Babu reflects on the work of great fusion bands like Weather Report, Shakti and Mahavishnu Orchestra," says their website.
In situ, Babu takes you on a memorable trip and gives you plenty of space to breathe your own fantasy into their rich and diverse sounds.
Vistas open up, vibrantly exotic dreams emerge, jumbling with star-crossed memories, images sharp as light and deep as shadows play in the slowly whirling patterns of your mind. Babu creates worlds where layers of images flow. Their total rejection of mediocrity ensures the music, while trancey, never becomes predictable or crass. And while they are serious, driven musicians, one of the hallmarks of their combined work is humour: refreshing, uplifting and infectious.
Look out for their debut album Up Roots. Visit their website www.babu.co.za, but most important, if you want a taste of the real Babu experience, make sure you hit the live gigs.
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