We've long admired Indian musicians: Strunz & Farah

Soaked in the cultural tones of Afro-Caribbean, Latin American folk, flamenco and Middle Eastern style, this duo’s music draws heavily from the jazz way of improvisation. Hailing from Costa Rica and Iran respectively, Jorge Strunz and Ardeshir Farah have brought the cultural richness of their native lands into their rhythmic and improvisation-rich original instrumental compositions. Their blockbuster album Heat of the Sun became a worldwide hit and garnered them a Grammy nomination. Along the way, the pair have sold over a million records and performed at some of the best global Jazz festivals in Montreal, Montreaux and Panama City to critical acclaim and adulation. They had a chat with DNA...

You have been playing as a team since 1979 and you’re still going strong. How did the association come about?
We met through a mutual friend in Los Angeles, and started playing together right away, based on our mutual interests and approaches to playing, and good chemistry.

How would you define your style? And given that you two have been playing for years  now, has there been a change  in your music?
Our style could be defined as world fusion guitar music. Our style has evolved with the passage of time, like all other things in life; music cannot remain static, and always presents new horizons.

What do you think works best for you as a duo? What would you say each of you brings on the table?
We each bring our individual cultural perspectives and colours to the music, which  enriches the mix. We are especially excited to bring our new band to India, featuring  the flute, clarinet, bass and percussion.

How aware are you of Indian music and artists? Anyone you’ve heard of or would like to work with?
We have collaborated with famed South Indian violin virtuoso Dr L Subramaniam on numerous projects. We have also recorded with sarod virtuoso Ashish Khan, and we’ve long admired Indian musicians like Pt Hariprasad Chaurasia, Shivkumar Sharma, and of course Ravi Shankar, as well as others.

This is your first show in India, so what is it you’re looking forward to?
This is our first performance in India as Strunz and Farah, and we are very excited about bringing our music to Indian audiences for the first time. We are looking forward to having a great show in the city.