The Mario Canonge trio hails from the sister islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe, tiny, miniscule islands in the French Caribbean.Mario and Alex are from Martinique, while Gregory is from Guadeloupe. Mario has been performing for more than 20 years, stamping his unique musical imprint worldwide. Alex has played in Canada for more than 40 years while Gregory, the youngestof the trio at 27, has played all over the globe. So there they were, in front of a very sparse crowd on a cool October evening; on their first ever trip to India.

The trio commenced with a composition based on the folk rhythms of Martinique, and proceeded to play for about an hour and a half. What struck one immediately about the music was the rhythm; it had extraordinary bounce and a complete Latin feel. The stress on rhythm is from French Jazz which has been used as a linchpin, around which it whirls with a completely Caribbean feel. The music had exuberant melody too, which was evident in a composition that they played on keyboards and bass. Mario was keen to distinguish the rhythm from that of Samba; according to him it was pure Haiti and Martinique, translated into sound. Alex had a head of grey curly hair which made him look like a senior statesman for music, and this impression was further reinforced as he stood there in black pants and shirt, black shoes immaculately polished and shining in the lights, and plucked his double bass to conjure up the most expressive and touching sound.

The revelation of the evening was Gregory Louis; a truly world class drummer. A great admirer of the Mexican drummers Antonio Sanchez and Omar Hakim, and the American drummer, Dennis Chambers, Gregory was just exceptional on the drums. His sound was nippy, keen, and penetrating. His tone had the most subtle cadences and these attenuated pauses; filling in the melody with swirls of rhythm. Influenced heavily by Gospel, Cuban, and Reggae music, Gregory had this outstanding quality of working all around the groove with wicked innovations pitched into the breaks of the composition. Mario would obliging go down or up the scale and give you these thump, thump breaks, and Gregory would fill it up with something that was there but not yet just there; moving all round the groove but never really getting into it, playing for the silence instead of continuity; a style reminiscent of the great Cuban timbale players. One could only howl out loud at the sheer pleasure of it, and wait to see just what Gregory would do next. Completely self taught, Gregory has played drums since the age of six. Gregory’s music is based on the Gwo Ka, a bunch of hand drums including a large slave drum, and the sounds stemming from them.

The music of the trio seemed to reflect a “return to the roots” approach in the face of a predatory, incessantly consuming, and ever proliferating globalization, which has led to the advent of the so called genre of “world music”. Using the rhythms and harmonies of jazz to keep the roots flourishing is what Mario, Alex, and Gregory do in their perpetual quest for a musical identity which is strongly embedded in their particular local cultures. Let us hear more of it then!

Anand S