On the 11th of September, One World College of Music collaborated with a visiting French Band, EouZGanG to provide students of One World, including Vihaan Jaswal (Drummer), Yashas Khar (Drummer), Sambhav Gupta (Guitarist), Ishaan Bakshi (Keys) and Vivek Kamra (Saxophonist) accompanied by Mr. Adhir (Guitar & Ensemble Department) and Ms. Nidhi (Director) with a one-on-one session with the band.
Partners in life and on stage, the drummer-composer Yves Eouzan and saxophonist Severine Eouzan are the original band. Sharing a common passion led to the creation of the band which consists of Yannick Robert on guitar, Sebastien Lovato on piano/keyboard and Rémi Bouyssiere on the bass.
The French band inspires an energetic contemporary jazz in which various influences are mixed at the crossroads of jazz, rhythm ‘n’ blues, funk, world music, etc.
We all were all extremely excited yet nervous as we arrived at Piano Man Gurgaon, where the workshop was taking place. We entered the club to find the band practicing for the show later that day. We were introduced to one another after their practice and almost immediately started the session. Each band member took the students who played the same instrument and started with fundamentals of music and playing the instrument. The band was relatively surprised to see that we were well-versed with music theory and instrumental techniques. The band also allowed us to play which was thrilling as most of us had never played for such musicians, especially not in the most famous jazz club in Gurgaon. We all were told our areas of improvement. This ranged from technique to music sense i.e., how well we can understand music and play in the moment. For instance, the drummers learnt how to incorporate melodies into various fills and beats whereas Vivek perfected his position of holding and playing the saxophone. Perhaps the most enthralling part was when we all received scores and were told to play together for the band. The piece was called ‘Mercy, Mercy, Mercy’. EouZGanG played the piece for us first and then guided us till we achieved the correct sound. It was a one of a kind experience for everyone present. We all gathered tons of new musical knowledge and suggestions to improve which would definitely be beneficial for all of us. Later, we all shared some food and talked about our learning at One World. Unfortunately, we had to leave as the band had their performance coming up.
To conclude, I would like to thank One World for giving us such a unique opportunity and allowing us to interact with international musicians. Major thanks to EouZGanG for taking out time from their busy schedule to have a workshop with us and thank you to Piano Man for hosting the event. We will never forget this experience and it impacted us to a great extent.