Review: BRIDGE OF DREAMS – OZASIA FESTIVAL 2022 at Her Majesty's Theatre

Reviewed by Eddy and Justene Knight, Thursday 27th October 2022.

Sandy Evans ushered in the new millennium for us by playing Ross Edwards's Dawn Mantras on her saxophone from the roof of the Sydney Opera House. She has gone on to international recognition as a musician, composer, and teacher, gaining an OAM (Medal of the Order of Australia) in 2010. Last night she gave us another extraordinary treat as part of the OzAsia Festival, the Adelaide premiere of Bridge of Dreams, an East/West jazz fusion concert of breathtaking virtuosity.

She co-wrote the music with singer Shubha Mudgal and tabla player Aneesh Pradhan and proceeded to lead them, in company with harmonium player Subhir Nayak and a second tabla player Bobby Singh, and joined by the female identifying or non-binary Sirens Big Band through a night of pure musical magic, conducting one moment, or stepping in with either her tenor or her soprano saxophone at another.

The compatibility of jazz and Indian music has been recognised since the early seventies in such pieces as Alice Coltrane's Journey in Satchidananda, with Pharoah Sanders on sax, or various works by John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra. The blending in of such a beautiful voice as that of Shubha Mudgal took such fusions to another level, it seemed, as did the addition of a seventeen-piece band of brass, bass, percussion, and piano.

The first Song to Mother Earth began with soft Indian rhythms before the jazz musicians exploded and the singer and the sax wove and danced in counterpoint to each other. Next came Beam, Arch, Suspension, devised to portray three kinds of bridge, and giving every instrument an opportunity for a solo, adding their own magic to the overall energy. The third song was more introspective, with softer, reflective tones. This time, single notes seemed to hang in space before pulling into the tune, swelling and ebbing before a final, single note hung in the air.

Aji Jaaiye drew on retro Indian film music and the energy was upbeat, cheeky chaos, with Shubha Mudgal singing out the challenge and the band answering, before solo instruments of trombone, clarinet, and conga drums chimed in.

Joyous Rain opened with the piano and a cascade of notes, joined by the tabla, then voice and then, one by one, other instruments picked up the melody. Combined, they swooped and soared, the notes and rhythm each time building a little higher, each time cascading back down, before the piano is left alone to bring us back down to earth.

Tabla Spiral opened with Aneesh Pradhan and Bobby Singh using their voices in an interchange of rhythms that play offer and receive, share and accept, and build a dialogue of tone and rhythm. Slowly, the band joins in and, then, they move back to their tablas, their hands fly, and all hearts soar.

Gratitude was a solo on the piano, where rich and beautiful sounds sang out.

In Deepening of the Red Sun, a voice cries, the harmonium responds, then tablas join. Slowly building, soft note on note, the orchestra merges into the song, building, deepening, rich layer upon layer, before Sandy Evans turns to the audience, picks up her saxophone, and pure sound breaks through.

The joy of this collaboration can be seen throughout the show but, perhaps, it is most captured in the final song, Arms of Imagination. Now, a voice calls out, just once, twice, and then an explosion of sound, joy, and music takes over the stage and dances across the entire theatre. Each member of the ensemble was laughing, playing, and spontaneously moving their bodies to the beat and the tune.