Jazz it up

Igor Butman’s Trio enthralled the audience at <g data-gr-id="30">Qla</g>, New Delhi on Wednesday evening. Along with  Eduard Zizak and Sergey Korchagin, this year the band staged incredibly gifted, visually impaired pianist Oleg Akkuratov. 

Oleg who visited India for the first time enchanted the audience with his skills and potential to excel in spite of the shortcomings in life. “I have been playing the piano since I was three years old. At the age of six I decided to pursue music and since then I have never looked back. I went to the finest jazz school’s in the world and have studied under famous pianist Mikhail Okun.” Now Oleg is a student of Rostov State Conservatory.

The show kicked off with the popular track, ‘Take the A train’ followed by an old Russian folk song. The highlight of the show was Oleg singing and playing the piano flawlessly to leave the audience astonished. Learning Hindi himself, he added to the cheer with Bollywood number, Mera <g data-gr-id="33">joota</g> hai <g data-gr-id="34">Japani</g> and several other Bollywood compositions. 

“The audience is amazing. I love India and hope to come again and again”, said Oleg. On being asked about his encounter with Hindi, he humbly said that it took him three days to master the lyrics and tunes of Bollywood numbers.

Winner at the international piano competition, Oleg was portrayed in a film called Bright twilight. The movie was directed by the famous Russian actor,  Lyudmila Gurchenko.  In the year 2014, his performance became the highlight of the closing ceremony of the <g data-gr-id="31">Paraolympic</g> Games.

The band was led by ace drummer Eduard Zizak while Sergey Korchagin played the base. “Coming to India gets better every year and it is amazing that Jazz Addicts have been promoting a Jazz culture in the country, year on year,” said Eduard.