Mumbai drummer Darshan Doshi is on a high. His Darshan Doshi Trio has been selected to perform at the Cape Town International Jazz Festival in the South African city on May 3 and 4. He will be joined by bassist Tony Grey and saxophonist Mark Hartsuch.
In an interaction with The Free Press Journal, Doshi talks about his plans for the show, and his music.
Excerpt from the interview:
What was your first reaction when selected for this festival, and what do you plan to play?
I obviously was thrilled. Though I have played at the Womad festival in a personal capacity with Salim-Sulaiman and drummer Karsh Kale, this is the first time the Darshan Doshi Trio is performing in an international festival. The Cape Town festival has a fantastic line-up. I have played on the track Pulse with Tony before, and with Mark on the album Better Than Sax. So we will play some of those plus some other tracks I have recorded with the Trio. We have been preparing a lot on Zoom, till the main rehearsal in Cape Town a day before.
How did the Trio come about?
I wanted to try out different forms of music with my drumming style in mind. So I started the Darshan Doshi Collective in 2014. I wanted to explore more styles and not stick to one genre. The Trio was born out of that, and I played with guitarist Rhythm Shaw and bassist Avishek Dey. I started collaborating with musicians from abroad too, beginning with Tony and guitarist John Paul, and later with Mark.
What attracted you to drumming in the first place?
My father Shailesh Doshi was a drummer in the Bollywood industry, playing with Kalyanji-Anandji, Laxmikant-Pyarelal, all those greats. When I was two, he saw some stuff in me, so my first training began there. Then I was part of Little Wonders with Kalyanji-Anandji, and I did 350-400 concerts with them. Later, Ranjit Barot taught me a lot. By the age of 18-19, I was already working with Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Kunal Ganjawala and Monty Sharma, and then with Leslie Lewis in Coke Studio.
How do you adapt while playing with other drumming cultures that exist in India?
I was lucky that my father introduced me to tabla at a very young age. While being with Ranjit, I met Taufiq Qureshi and Sridhar Parthasarathy, and learnt just by observing and speaking to them. In fact, I tell young drummers to learn at least one Indian percussion instrument, because being a drummer, you will have to play with them. I tell them not to stick to any genre, and listen to all kinds of music.
