At noon, two days before their maiden performance in India on March 17, the band members of the Dini Virsaladze Quartet appear sleepy and dazed. The band from Georgia are here because they were invited to perform at the second edition of the two-day Delhi Jazz Festival.
“We arrived at eight in the morning today,” says the most popular member of the band, Dinara Virsaladze, “and the phone has not stopped ringing. I didn’t even know jazz was popular in India. The organisers [the Indian Council for Cultural Relations and Seher] tell us that people want to interview us!”
As Virsaladze talks about her hometown of Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, her band members come into the room. The three men, she says, have “cleaned up” for the interview.
Virsaladze — she prefers to be called “Dini” — began her training in Western classical music at the age of seven. She studied piano at the Tbilisi Music School for Gifted Children and graduated from the Tbilisi State Conservatoire. “I began working in a chamber orchestra as a pianist and harpsichord player soon after,” she says. Later, she took over as the concert-master at the vocal department of the Conservatoire and with the Tbilisi Chamber Orchestra as a harpsichord player.
“My first performance as a jazz pianist was in 1993. I was scared that people might not take to jazz as well as they take to other genres!”
The same year, she participated in the Novosibirsk Jazz Festival. She says it changed her life. Virsaladze went on to host a jazz show on the local television channel, Iberia, for some time. And, at the Margarita Festival in 1996, she was awarded as the best keyboard player.
With her easy charm and flamboyance, Virsaladze overshadows the rest of her quartet. The language barrier may be another factor. When she excuses herself to attend to a telephone call, an awkward silence follows. The other band members — drummer Kukuri Abashmadze, electric guitar player David Masteranov and bass guitarist Levan Deisadz — do not speak English. Looking at the recorder on the table, Abashmadze smiles and says, “Interview?” Strumming a soft tune on the guitar, he turns to the other men, continuing to speak in Georgian.
Virsaladze has two albums under her belt — Mysterious and Smiling Face. Her compositions cover a wide range of moods, from soulful to flirtatious, and sometimes even angry and vengeful. At the Delhi Jazz Festival, she performed “Voyage” and “Umbrella”, among other items. Her third album, she says, will be with The Amit Chatterjee Alliance, a collaboration of musicians from India, Europe and America. “I performed with Amit in Georgia and have wanted to visit India ever since!”
The jazz festival, which ends today, also hosted performances by Indian band, Moonarra and French band Eol Trio. Today’s schedule includes performances by the Bica-daerr-stick Trio from Germany, Magos Herrera from Mexico and Elkano browning cream from Spain.
In India, clubs and cafés dedicated exclusively to jazz are rare. This is not the case with her country, says Virsaladze, happily. “There are clubs with fans swaying to different jazz tunes,” she says. “But there is a rule. If you are in a jazz club, you don’t request pop songs.” She laughs and adds, “We play pop when the audience wants it.”
Does jazz, as a genre, pay well in Georgia? At this question, one of the three men, who has not spoken until now (Masteranov) and apparently knows no English, intervenes with a wry lament: “There is no money in jazz!” At this quick response, Virsaladze laughs and says, “Everyone understands the word ‘money’!”
On request, the band performs a song from Mysterious. In the small hotel room at the Park, it is impossible for the band to assemble its equipment — two guitars, a drum set and a keyboard. Unable to squeeze her keyboard in, Virsaladze asks if her voice will be enough. She hums “Stimulating Person”, striking the right notes effortlessly, while clicking her fingers. The band members understand their cue and start playing.
Yes, her voice is more than enough.
