Deepak Ram Talks about the Tracks on Steps

1. GIANT STEPS  - John Coltrane (3:52)    

(See “Fire in the Attic…” press release for more info).

2. MADIBA'S DANCE - Deepak Ram (7:33)  

Madiba is a nickname for Nelson Mandela. It is his clan name and is used out of respect. This piece is dedicated to him. He is known for his own special dance. He’s one of the few presidents who will stand in front of a crowd and dance. Africa is so full of music. In South Africa there is rhythm everywhere. You might see it in the way a guy crosses the street. At political rallies during apartheid, 50,000 people might start singing as if they rehearsed together for years. Mandela would come on stage to speak and people would sing for him and he would dance.

I feel very lucky to have played for him at the Millennium concert where he was honored. I can think of no other loving leader like him. I was thinking of this powerful personality, his imprisonment, the struggle. People who wanted to kill him and tortured him and after 27 years in prison he comes out as this warm, loving, forgiving person. That’s what this piece is about to me.

This melody uses a kind of international folk scale, used in African music, but also in Japanese music.

3. BLUES FOR SHYAM BABU - Deepak Ram (5:39)  

Though it doesn’t sound like it, this is inspired by the blues changes in “All Blues” by Miles Davis. But it has a very strong Indian folk rhythm, a 14/8 rhythm. It also has little bit of a Bollywood or Hindi song flavor. I wrote this the first time I saw a child who was only a few minutes old. He is the child of a friend in Texas. Shyam is another name for Krishna, the Hindu god of the flute. I call this kid Shyam Babu. Babu is like mister.

4. SUMMERTIME - GEORGE GERSHWIN, IRA GERSHWIN, DUBOSE HEYWARD (5:23)         

A wonderful tune. Though I’ve known this since I was a kid, it was only about five years ago that I listened to the words. Somehow it resonated with a feeling from apartheid South Africa, knowing what people went through there. ‘Summertime and the loving is easy, fish are jumpin’, the cotton is high. Hush little baby…” This slave woman is singing to this little girl. The words are really poignant to me. South Africa and the American South are really the same you know. I am really surprised that Americans are surprised when they look at South African apartheid. It’s the same.

5. OCTOBER - Darius Brubeck (5:57)        

This is a really beautiful tune written by one of my close friends, Darius Brubeck, who is the son of Dave Brubeck. I’ve played with almost all the Brubeck kids. Melodically, this piece is really beautiful. It lends itself really well to bansuri. I think it brings to mind the Fall in New England, with all those beautiful leaves.

6. NAIMA - John Coltrane (7:01)    

John Coltrane wrote this one really inspired by Indian music. His own description of Naima talks about it having these pedal tones, these overriding tones. He wanted it to reflect the tanpura. It’s a really involved tune. I still work on this tune every day. Coltrane talked about this tune having an inside channel and an outside channel. The outside is Indian music, and the inside are these really complex chords.

If you listen to tune, it has these regular jazz chords. But the bass is always playing the E and the B which is like the tanpura, and feels like a drone.

7. ALL BLUES - Miles Davis (6:09)   

Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue album was really inspiring. For Indian musicians, that’s a nice album to start with because it does not have so many chord changes. It’s more modal, from that cool period in jazz. That lends itself to Indian playing.

8. MY FUNNY VALENTINE - LORENZ HART, RICHARD RODGERS (6:41)     

This is the first jazz tune I ever played with Darius Brubeck like ten years ago. It’s made for bansuri. It’s the kind of melody that has all this shading you can do. On the bansuri you play the melody line that everybody knows, but then around it you can do this shading, like a painting, but using the notes of the chord. There are certain notes that you hold where you can do all these things in between. The shading is crucial.

Deepak Ram's Discography:

Ragas Bhupali and Kirwani
Prasad "Blessing"
Beauty in Diversity
Samvad "Conversation"
Flute for Thought
One Breath
Searching for Satyam

Additional Info
Fire in the Attic: South Africa’s Indian Bansuri-Player ...
Individual track information, and Deepak Ram discography

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