By Faizan Hussain
Stooges Brass Band performing at Alhamra, Lahore.
Music has no boundaries. It can bond different communities and cultures. Pakistan and USA have had good relations with lows and highs politically. Culturally the bonds have been strong as a number Americans are of Pakistani descent. Recently a US brass band visited Pakistan as part of the efforts to promote good relations between the two countries. The visit had been organised by the US Embassy in Pakistan. Stooges Brass Band from New Orleans, Louisiana to Pakistan performed at events and participated in musical exchanges in Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad.
The Stooges Brass Band was formed in 1996. It has been the elite and most dedicated brass band of New Orleans which gets appreciation for its traditional and contemporary beats in his music. It has performed internationally in Asia, Europe and South America. In order to exchange the music cultural values, Stooges Brass Band recently performed at Alhamara Hall in Lahore. A number of people from all walks of life and music students enjoyed their performance.
The seven members of the band – Cameron Johnson, Errol Marcuand, John Perkin, Larry Brown, John Cannon, Bernell Edwards and Lamar Heard – came on stage with their musical instruments. They were all in high spirits. Braving the hot weather as the air conditioner of the hall was not working due to electricity load shedding the band gave a remarkable performance. Playing on the saxophone, the bass drum, the trumpet, the trombone and the tuba, the band mesmerised the audience in their one hour spell. They played the traditional New Orleans brass with contemporary urban beats. The response from the audience in form of clapping started at once. The band front man was so much interactive with the audience that he asked them to utter some words with the band members. He even went into the audience and requested some boys to join them in dance. About a dozen charged youngsters joined the band in dance.
Stooges Brass Band kept the audience engaged during their whole performance by interacting with them again and again to build the momentum. When the performance came to an end, the band members mixed with the music students who were eager to show them their skills. They gave many useful music tips to the curious students. They mixed up with the people and shared their views about their visit and the commonality of values in the field of music. Sweating from head to foot they laughed off the hot weather saying they loved visiting Pakistan.
“It was a royal treat,” an excited young boy who learns music at the Lahore Arts Council said. Another young man Rizwan Hussain, who lives abroad and is in Pakistan on holidays said has been abroad for a long time appreciating the musical performance said it was a treat for the people of Lahore as you don’t get to see such performances often. “For some time I completely forgot the tension and problems that we are facing in form of load shedding and other issues in our country. The band gave me an escape and I felt as if I am in some Western country. Their performance was marvellous.”
Band members said that they were excited to be in Pakistan. The band leader John Perkins talking to Sunday Plus said that they were all very happy to perform in Pakistan. “We came here for some cultural exchange, to give something from our culture and to take something from here. We found people of Pakistan are very lively and we really enjoyed the visit and our interaction with people and musicians,” he said.
Stooges Brass Band performance brought to mind the time when a lot of cultural troupes from other countries used to visit Pakistan. The country is facing tough times due to energy crisis. The band’s performance was no doubt a whiff of fresh air.
(The report was written in June, 2012)
faizan hussain 