"In order to achieve liberation, we must first be able to imagine it", writes Amirtha Kidambi on her latest release "New Monuments". She finds a way of imagining in music, which is capable of expressing much more than words. The powerful improvisations of Amirtha Kidambi's Elder Ones stand for freedom - as was the case during her concert at the Leipzig Jazz Days.

"You are free to do whatever you want", the American musician calls out right at the beginning. Just as free jazz allows the musicians to play together uninhibitedly, the audience should also react in a completely relaxed and free manner. Although the listeners remain in their seats, they do not feel the need to fire up the quintet with long, loud applause and cheers. Amirtha Kidambi's Elder Ones invite the audience into a diverse soundscape for almost 90 minutes at Neues Schauspiel Leipzig.

The seemingly otherworldly tones of the modular synthesizers create captivating soundscapes that caress the droning harmonium. Kidambi's warm timbre nestles against the body of sound with poppy melodies or creates a captivating aura. The sound becomes particularly strong on the track "Decolonize The Mind", which deals with the role of language in culture. At the beginning, the saxophone sighs and sobs in a wordless dialogue with the vocals. In the end, Amirtha Kidambi's Elder Ones formulate a sonorous indictment of contemporary hegemonies with their music - particularly through the powerful and insistent percussion of Jazon Nazary.

There is an impressive power in their music, which breaks through in the solos of the individual musicians, but is particularly effective when they play together. This is certainly an analogy that is in the spirit of Kidambi - experiencing cohesion in and through music in order to enrich our everyday lives with solidarity.

TEXT: CLAUDIA HELMERT