Camelia

The Jakarta Post

 

Features - July 28, 2007

 

Camelia Pasandaran, Contributor, Jakarta

 

This is the story of Kolobok, a loaf of bread that comes to life one Sunday morning: After grandma finished baking a loaf of bread, she put it near the window; by magic, the bread came to life and rolled out the window into the forest.

 

Kolobok meets animals in the woods -- it waltzed with the wolf, tangoed with the fox, and finally met the bear, which ate poor Kolobok.

 

Kolobok is a Russian fable narrated by Slava and Leonard Grigoryan. They are not master storytellers, and instead told the story with the music they produced from their guitars. Kolobok was composed by violinist Eduard Grigoryan and specially arranged for his two guitarist sons.

 

After a short introduction on the piece, the brothers started in a slow tempo, drawing the audience into the serenity of an ordinary Sunday morning. A sudden rise in tempo and switch to high fairy-tale tunes marked the miracle of the bread coming to life.

 

They continued playing then Slava exclaimed, "It's the bear!" The following low tunes -- and the guitarists' serious expressions -- made concertgoers feel the intensity of the approaching big, bad bear.

 

Leonard slashed a finger across his neck to mark the death of Kolobok, and the story closed in a descendo, met by enthusiastic applause.

 

Kolobok was part of Slava and Leonard Grigoryan's July 23 performance at Erasmus Huis, South Jakarta , and the fifth in The Guitar Maestros 2 Concert Series.

 

The concert opened with a work originally composed for piano, Suite Bergamasque by Claude Debussy, and followed by three pieces by Federico Mompou, all arranged for two guitars by Eduard Grigoryan.

 

The first half closed with Manuel de Falla's Pieces Espagnoles, in which the Grigoryan brothers complemented each other and produced a rich musical palette together. When Slava played the melody, Leonard played the harmony, and vice-versa, a perfect blend that filled the hall with a Spanish atmosphere with their imaginative and dream-like music.

 

The two brothers, who were born in Kazakhstan and raised in Australia , have been playing guitar together since Leonard was 4 years old and Slava, 13. They play duet naturally, as though they can understand each other without saying a word -- but with a glance or raised eyebrow to begin a piece or to enter a transition.

 

Their coordination and timing are impeccable, as seen when they plucked their instruments in tandem. Their collaboration has already produced award-winning classical albums.

 

Although the duo has no formal music education, the Grigoryans' mastery of the guitar is such that their playing looks effortless as they produce beautiful melodies to structured, complex rhythms, and from intricate, subtle harmonies to brash, astringent chords.

 

Even though stands with sheet music were in front of them onstage, they were not bound by it, playing expressively and successfully to illustrate the character and atmosphere of the songs. When they played works by Spaniards Mompou and de Falla, they transported the Jakartan audience to the streets of Madrid, Barcelona and Seville .

 

At times the harmony sounded unfamiliar, a result of the guitar rearrangements, which merge world music, jazz as well as classical elements. At other times, they played repeated sections using different dynamics, brilliantly producing an ambience that reached the soul, allowing the audience to flow with the music.

 

Aside from their musicality, the Grigoryans' experience on the international stage was seen in their communication with the audience, guiding them toward an understanding of their music.

 

While the first half of the concert was amusing, it was the second half that truly showed the resourcefulness and creativity of the two performers, who are open to a variety of genre aside from the classical.

 

"We play everything, classical, jazz, rock and roll. We even have electric guitar," said Leonard.

 

Their mastery of several genres was evident when they played modern compositions for guitar. After Kolobok, the opening song of the second half, they performed Nigel Westlake's Songs from the Forest and Evening Dance by Andrew York. The brothers ended the concert with Beneath an Evening Sky, a work by their favorite composer and hero, Ralph Towner.

 

Responding to the audience's cheering their performance, the guitarists gave an encore of improvisation that slowly led into the Brazilian tune Jongo, by Paolo Bellinati.

 

While other guitar concerts are usually considered a string concert, the Grigoryans' performance could truly be called a guitar concert -- they did not produce music just with their guitar strings, but with all parts of the instrument.

 

For example, they hit the guitars' wooden body and transformed it into a percussion instrument, impersonating the sound of a conga.

 

"Well, it's a good percussion instrument," said Slava, laughing.

 

He added that the brothers wished to introduce new things and new music styles through their concerts. They believed that music is like lifelong learning -- to absorb novel things and learning new music.

 

Perhaps this philosophy comes from their musical family: their mother, Irena Grigoryan, is a viola player, and their father a violinist and professional jazz drummer. Slava said Eduard Grigoryan always had a hunger for listening to new genres and sounds.

 

In selecting the program, Slava said he and Leonard tried not to play familiar songs: "We really enjoy playing music that we know that the audience never heard of before. That's really fundamental for us," said Slava, who was named 1998 Young Australian of the Year for the Arts.

 

The Grigoryan brothers' concert was arranged by well-known Indonesian guitarist Sudirman Leman, in cooperation with the Australian government. Through the 2005-2008 Guitar Maestros concert series, he intends to present Jakartans with a different kind of entertainment.

 

Sudirman had observed that most residents of the capital sought entertainment at movie theaters, cafes, lounges and concerts that he felt was lacking in quality.

 

"I want to present high-quality entertainment that also consists of educational and cultural aspects," said Sudirman, adding that he was pleased with the Grigoryan brothers' performance and repertoire of difficult compositions.