Saagara means "ocean" in Sanskrit. It's a meeting between tireless musical wanderer Wacław Zimpel and masters of traditional Indian music from Bangalore. The base of their common sound is 4000 years of Carnatic music, complemented with modern ideas. Saagara continue traditions in music, but also place themselves within new trends – next to other examples of cooperation between jazz and the music of India, as in the case of Bill Laswell or Jan Garbarek. At Jazztopad, Saagara – usually playing as a quartet – will perform as a quintet: Wacław Zimpel – alto clarinet, khene; Mysore N. Karthik – violin; Giridhar Udupa – ghatam; Bharghava Halambi – khanjira; K Raja – thavil.
The second part of the evening will belong to Anthony Braxton – multi-instrumentalist, composer of operas, philosopher, chess player, uncompromising radical outsider – a virtuoso of saxophone, clarinet and piano. In his world, elements of classic jazz meet the 20th-century avant-garde, and Coltrane shakes Stockhausen's hand. The mystic and intellectual continually surprises with a variety of incarnations, shapes and styles, feeling at home in large line-ups as well as in solo performance. In Wrocław, we will hear the premiere of an entirely new composition – we can be certain that, as usual with Braxton, it will be surprising and astonishing.