Renowned percussionist Aziz Kazi talks about his one-of-a-kind passion project, “Kakan”
Asar Ahmed | July 8, 2020 Karachi:
For any musician, especially one who has approached his or her craft through a Western prism, foreign instruments pose certain challenges, both technical and philosophical. Balancing creative preferences and positions is a feat that few truly achieve in this respect. Of course, this does not apply to those who seek to use “other” art forms as an exotic spice for their very international compositions.
But altruistic creators must tread carefully: Any attempt to achieve something groundbreaking will very likely come across as appropriation (i.e., corruption) of the art form in the eyes of those who revere the art in some transcendent way.
Given that even indigenous Pakistani instruments are perceived by urban producers as world music-esque, it is hard to imagine that a relatively recent foreign instrument like the hand drum could be considered anything more than mere decoration.
Acclaimed percussionist and drummer Aziz Kazi of Coke Studio fame and his team from A for Aleph took on the challenge of creating Pakistan’s first hand drum album, “Cacan.” Taking a fairly purist approach, “Cacan” is an instrumental album with the hand drum as the only instrument. “Initially we wanted to include other instruments, but after many discussions with Umar (producer) and Anas (producer), we decided differently. We want the audience to experience the instrument in its entirety,” said Aziz.
“I used many sources to record the instrument, but what you hear is a single-track recording. The idea was to get a very pure and intimate experience of listening to the handpan in the most natural way,” he added.
Because the hang drum itself is a melodic percussion instrument, artists and producers believe that adding different layers, even as accompaniment, takes away from the listener’s immersion.
“It’s not just percussion, it has musical notes. The instrument itself has many layers. This is not like other hand drum albums. We spent time exploring the instrument from every angle,” said Umar Dar, one of the album’s producers.
Aziz believes that minute imperfections are just as necessary to a perfect experience as melodic structure: “At some point you’re going to feel like it’s out of tune or out of timing, but that’s the nature of the instrument. We want it to be just that – to be heard as it is.”
Cacan’s first single, “Shantaram,” was released earlier this month, and according to Aziz, it’s a song that foreshadows the pure experience that the album will bring. “Shantaram was the first song I composed while recording the album and it paved the way for the purest sound of the entire album,” said Aziz.
Cacan is named after Aziz’s childhood nickname, but it wasn’t a conscious decision to start with – a throwback to childhood seems fitting, given that it was born so naturally.
“I had been wanting a hang drum for a long time. When I went to Bali I bought two hang drums, one of which was custom made in a village outside the city. I asked for it to be tuned to C minor, 432Hz,” Dahl said.
Since Dar is not a percussionist, he gave one of his hang drums to Aziz upon his return, with the hope that if Aziz could master it, the two could work together in the future. “It took him more than a year to get comfortable with the instrument. Once he got comfortable with it, I was keen to record him, and now we have made it happen,” Dar said.
“I experimented a little with the instrument about 12 years ago in Berlin. It was a bit too expensive at the time. Also, unlike most percussion instruments, the hang drum is a melodic instrument. I’m primarily a percussionist, so it took me a while to understand the scale of the instrument,” Aziz says.
Speaking about the contrast between his work with Kacan and Coke Studio, Aziz noted that the latter is more momentary.
“Coke Studios is like a job for me in the long run. There is a role I have to play, within the existing structure. It’s like fitting into a role. Here it’s totally different. We sit and chat like friends,” Aziz said.
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