Ragawerk

The Indian subcontinent has long been a second home for guitarist and composer, Max Clouth. From 2009 to 2012, he studied the secrets of Indian ragas in Mumbai. His trademark double-neck guitars developed with luthier Philipp Neumann, are based on oriental and Indian string instruments such as Oud and Sarod. In 2012, Max returned to Germany and formed a band with Frankfurt-based drummer Martin Standke. Together, they set out to realise Max’s vision of a sound that transcends European and Indian Music. They call it Ragawerk! Max is known for having developed and mastered the Indian jazz guitar style of music, which incorporates Indian techniques when playing guitar. Drummer Martin Standke brings European Jazz aesthetics and electronic sounds into the band. Ragawerk also draws on the achievements of the Mahavishnu Orchestra.

After their debut record Return Flight (2015), the band received the Jazz Award of the City of Frankfurt in 2017. `In 2018, followed Kamaloka (a term from Sanskrit, literally translating to ‘place of desire’), in which two Indian singers, a tabla player and three strings complement the quartet line-up. Studio Konzert (2019) was recorded live at the legendary Bauer Studios, featuring a string section and electronic artist Kabuki on modular synthesizer. Over the years, the band has toured extensively in Germany and India, having performed at the Jazzfest Brandenburg, Palmengarten Jazz Festival, Frankfurt, Giants of Jazz Festival, New Delhi and the Goethe Institutes in Chennai, Trivandrum and Hyderabad, among other venues. Ragawerk, formerly Max Clouth Clan, last toured Indian cities New Delhi, Kolkata, and Hyderabad in December 2019. We spoke to Max about the band’s journey and the new EP.

What was the starting point for the EP? What inspired it?
What inspired us to put together the Live EP was predominantly the changes, complications and challenges 2020 brought with it. 

How would you musically describe this new EP and how different is it from your past works?
The Live EP consists of tracks from Kamaloka (2018) and one track is from the album, Return Flight (2015). The music on this new EP is a stripped down version, only keys, bass, drums and guitar have been used. 

What is the EP called?
Ragawerk Live. 

Why move around in just one world when you can be at home in many?
Music is like a road trip inside our minds, resembling the soundtrack of a film that only exists in imagination. Episodes shot on the roads between Germany and India. Foregrounds and backgrounds alternate. Perspectives change. We wanted to share our EP — after a long hiatus — and were extremely grateful for the opportunity to connect with our audiences again. We played the EP to a live audience back in July in Centralisation Darmstadt, a concert hall for national and international artists. For us, it was a very special concert. It was the first time we were playing music together in a while, and we realised how much we had missed it. All the pent-up energy was discharged into the joy of playing, which, as we think, makes our sound on this EP quite intense. 

We then used the time during the ongoing pandemic to work towards releasing our Live EP, which is now available on Spotify, Apple Music and all other streaming platforms. The Live EP has helped us push our music in an eclectic direction. Each of us has a fondness for various genres of music and that reflects in our work. You’ll find strains of rock, electronic, jazz, and even West Asian music, all of which has contributed to the texture of this EP.  

How easy/seamless is it to blend two different types of music together?
Blending East-West soundscapes is something that comes naturally to us. We have always tried to bring about a steady process of reorientation, drawing listeners into spheres of sound/soundscapes that bridge influences and contexts. Western and Indian influences merge into a characteristic sound, and for us, it's about combining both worlds, and not so much about the harmonisation of both lands. It is rather a combination of both worlds that results in a unique, interesting, sometimes harmonic, sometimes dis-harmonic synthesis. 

Indian music hugely inspires us; it opens up new windows, especially the modal concept in Indian music that is very close to our jazz approach, but at the same time completely different. My own personal journey goes back to the 2000s, when I lived in Mumbai on Yari Road. With time, I got immersed into Indian culture and as time passed, I learnt more about the music and its people. When I returned to Germany after a three year stay in India, I wanted to form a band and play the compositions I had written, and the first musician I happened to call was Martin Standke, the drummer of the band, who brings in an electronic and jazz aesthetic to the collective. I think it boils down to staying true to your sound, adding a mix of local cultures and subcultures, and focusing on artistic collaborations in order to bring out the right flavour. As artists, it's been about bringing forth our unique expression of this West-East merging and an intercultural exchange.

What is it about Indian music that excites you the most?
India’s rich musical heritage has so much to offer, and for us, it's the interpretation of Indian music which matters the most. Indian music has a predominance in our work, and what we are trying to do is to create contemporary music that transforms and blends elements of Indian classical music into Western stylistics. 

We’ve always felt that audiences have been very open to our music, be it in India or Europe. I think it’s because our music has elements of both western and eastern sounds and people can always connect with something in our music — the groove, virtuosity, the Indian or jazz elements. That’s what makes it fun and engaging, as it sets the mood for audiences and listeners, and also brings dynamism to our performances.