Review: Natalie Cole, Ranjit Barot and Soulmate wow Dubai

Grammy-award winning singer and songwriter Natalie Cole stole the show not only with her impeccable rendition of timeless classic jazz tunes but also showed her astute sense of dress as she walked a ramp (an extension of the main stage) at the du World Music Festival on Friday night at the Dubai Media City.

The singer won everyone’s hearts as she sashayed on the ramp in a black gown embossed with gold letters in Arabic. “This dress was made especially for you,” said Cole. “The dress has writings from the 13th century Persian poet Rumi. He’s known as the Shakespeare of Arabia and his poems are all about love,” she said as she looked back at the band behind her from the ramp and broke out into the Frank Sinatra classic, “The Best is Yet to Come”.

The weather was just perfect for the open air show as Cole put the crowd in the mood by saying, “It’s nice to see you, and be seen with you. Just sit back, relax and enjoy [the music].” The daughter of legendary jazz musician Nat King Cole belted out one classic smooth jazz tune after another and her set list featured some fine renditions of her father’s popular tune “Route 66” and “Smile your Heart is Aching” (written by silent era star Charlie Chaplin), “Tell Me All About it” by Michael Franks, “Somewhere in the Hills” by Antonio Carlos Jobim, and a Spanish version of “Que Sas” from her new album, among others favourites.

Before her act, Australian jazz-fusion guitarist, Frank Gambale demonstrated his genius with his three-piece band, displaying his sweep picking technique – something that was originated by the maestro who has been a member of jazz legend Chic Correa’s Elektric Band.

Earlier in the evening, Ranjit Barot, ace Indian drummer, composer and singer, whose credits include working alongside Grammy-winning composer A. R. Rahman, and who is currently a touring member of the legendary British jazz guitar supremo John MacLaughlin’s 4th Dimension band, opened the festival presenting his powerful blend of East-West fusion tracks.

Barot’s compositions involved tricky, off beat time signatures and he even went beyond the standard jazz-fusion parameters as he infused complex Indian rhythms to his tunes.

The highlight of his show, however, was the intricate phrasing patterns between the drums, the veena (Indian stringed instrument), sax and keyboards. Barot made the difficult-to-comprehend passages tasty with his powerful dynamics on the drums.

“Hello Dubai. Thank you all for coming,” said Barot as he introduced his multi-cultural band featuring Lebanese bassist Elie Afif, Punya Srivinas (from the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu) on the vocals and veena, British saxophonist Tim Garland and Turkish keyboardist Aydin Esen.

Barot’s session included tracks from his album “Bada Boom” and also a track dedicated to the late bass legend Jaco Pastorius titled “Remember The Future”.

In addition to being a powerhouse drummer, Barot also proved he is a fine singer, as he hummed out talas (beats) and sang tracks from his album as well. “Indian music is global. It’s contemporary and has a larger appeal,” said Barot as he said he would like to come back to perform. “Dubai has great potential [for gigs],” he said.

Another Indian band who took to the stage after Gambale’s session was Soulmate. The band from Shillong (the capital of the north eastern state of Meghalaya) impressed with their blues tracks. Guitarist Rudy Wallang and singer Tipriti Kharbangar were clearly outstanding in this high-spirited performance. Wallang’s tasty blues and slide guitar solos and Khargangar with her high-energy, soulful singing style — reminiscent of blues singing legend Janis Joplin — clearly had the audience foot-tapping to their tacks. In fact, people could be seen dancing around as they band upped the tempo with some swinging rock ‘n’ roll blues.

Soulmate are not strangers to the music scene and have already recorded two albums. They have played at many international festivals including at the Kennedy Center, US, for the Maximum India Festivals, Baltic Blues Festival in Germany and Goteburg and Monsteras Roots and Blues Festival in Sweden among others.

Concertgoers seemed happy with the evening’s line-up.

“I actually came to see Natalie Cole, but I’m highly impressed by the Ranjit Barot band,” said Armin, a visitor from Switzerland.

“Though Natalie [Cole] was the star of the evening, I just loved Soulmate’s act, that girl singer Tipriti I think she has the talent to perform on any international stage,” said Madhukar, a jazz aficionado.