“The collaboration with the symphony orchestra has completely changed my point of view on life and music : Shallum Xavier of Fuzon”

Maheen Sabeeh

Karachi

2011 has been an incredible year for Fuzon. It started out with a tour of Bangladesh. This was followed by a collaboration between Fuzon and American Jazz band, Ari Roland Jazz Quartet. Later on, Fuzon sat on as judges for the second season of Azme Alishan, a national song competition. More good news followed when Shallum Xavier (alongside Zara Madani) picked up the award for Best Song for his tune, ‘Payam’.

Now the trio is back after a long and rigorous tour of Norway where they performed, not only with an international symphony, but also performed at 30 different school concerts.

For Fuzon, the real high was their collaboration with the sixty-four piece symphony orchestra, Kork. According to Fuzon, “this orchestra is considered widely to be one of the top European symphony orchestras and was also awarded a cultural prize in 2010 for achievements and excellence in music all over Europe.”

At a show, in front of a live audience that consisted of not only Norwegians but people from other ethnicities from around the globe, Fuzon took the stage alongside Kork and performed their famous tunes, ‘Teray Bina’ and ‘Neend Na Aaye’.

Speaking about the collaborative nature of the show, Shallum Xavier, guitarist/composer of Fuzon told Instep Today, “The sound of violins, the horn section, the harp and the rest of the orchestra completely transformed and enhanced our songs. Each and every moment on stage was very inspirational.”

In addition to Shallum playing guitars, Immu taking on keyboards with Rameez Mukhtar on vocals, the trio was also joined by two Norwegian musicians (Marcus Lewin, drums and Ovid Matsuin, bass) who played with them during the tour.

Speaking about how this tour happened, Shallum said, “This project was conceived and initiated by Ingrid Kindem from Rikskonsertene. She discussed it with me in the initial phase in order to gain a Pakistani perspective and feedback. Ingrid and I have had a productive history of working together in several different crossover projects since 2005. Consequent to discussions, songs were sent to the symphony orchestra in order for them to rehearse and prepare according to the flow and direction of the music.”

Even though this wasn’t Shallum’s first trip to Oslo but he still found the whole experience rewarding and memorable.

“This was Fuzon’s second trip to Oslo and my sixth trip,” Shallum told Instep Today and continued, “I managed to work on quite a few collaborative crossover projects as a solo artist. I have performed at the Oslo Mela Festival, the prestigious Telenor Cultural prize ceremony with a brass band in collaboration with Marilyn Mazur – Queen of Percussion. She has worked with names like Miles Davis, and Jan Garbarek. Each and every experience in Oslo so far has been exceptional. This tour gave us an opportunity to interact with and entertain young school kids at thirty different concerts, talk to them, understand their perspective and present Pakistan in a positive light. The collaboration with the symphony orchestra has completely changed my point of view on life and music. It was incredible.”

As the year comes to a close, Shallum remains tight-lipped about the upcoming new record except to say, “The third studio album will be out in March with a big surprise.”

For now, Fuzon’s all set for a rollicking New Year’s Eve with a show in Dubai.

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