Documentary profiles the lives of Mumbai-based saxophonists

When award-winning documentary filmmaker, Praveen Kumar, decided to pick up the saxophone, his search for a teacher led him to realise that there were few surviving in the city. This became the subject of his latest documentary, The Sax In The City.

Luke Poswaity

The film that looks at the lives of Mumbai-based saxophonists, features young musician Rhys Sebastian D'Souza, Shyam Raaj, Raj Singh Sodha, Carl Clements and the late Luke Poswaity, who was the senior most of the lot. "Rhys features in the film in a multilayered way. He is in the early days of his career while Luke was at the fag end, reminiscing about what it was like to be a professional saxophone player in his time," says Kumar.

Rhys with mother Merlin D'Souza

Coming to the trigger for the documentary, Kumar says, "The players come from different economic backgrounds. Some live in slums while others have middle-class apartments. Things in the music industry have changed over the years, and the film reflects the effects of some of those. With the coming of the synthesiser, which manages to replicate the sounds of many instruments, older instruments that are more complicated to learn and need one to invest time in rigorous practice, have been sidelined. Though the sounds that are replicated are of poor quality, somehow it is acceptable in the commercial set up." The director adds that while most aspects of the film are universal and could be about musicians playing any instrument, certain struggles are faced more strongly by musicians who play brass-band instruments.

D'Souza, who features prominently in the film, agrees, "I am one of the fortunate few. Since both my parents are musicians, I found it easy to understand this industry. The coming of the synthesiser is a challenge though. In the commercial space, it's all about limited time and budgets. People don't have the budget to hire so many members of the brass band, for instance. So, it ends up having to do with the taste of the director." He adds, "When Praveen came to meet me, he was very passionate about the project. He spent a lot of time talking to me and watching me play as well. I was happy to be a part of the project instantly." The film also includes scenes from the play Bombay Jazz, which features D'Souza and actor Denzil Smith. The play offers a glimpse into the history of the genre, its key players and ts influence on commercial Bollywood music.

Though the 60-minute English documentary has received a good response from its recent screening in Delhi, Luke Poswaity did not live to see the film. "He could play the sax, the oboe, the clarinet and the flute, but died in extreme poverty. There are many muscians who meet with the same fate. There is a correlation between Luke's poverty and the poverty in commercial music which usually lacks soul," he concludes.