Indian percussionist Trilok Gurtu connects East and West. With modern accompaniment and excelling the tabla he knows how to make accessible worldjazz that appeals to a wide range of music lovers. Not only the tabla stars in his music, his instruments are a mix of ancient Indian instruments combined with drums and percussion, enabling him to play Latin, funk, jazz and of course Indian rhythms. As a child Gurtu studied classical Indian music, but he was always drawn to the soul and jazz, resounding in contemporary music. Gurtu's musical resume has enlarged. Since the seventies he has been working with prominent American jazz musicians like Don Cherry, Joe Zawinul, Pat Metheny and Bill Evans. And many times jazz magazine Down Beat elected the Indian musician 'percussionist of the year'. On The Beat Of Love, Gurtu's newest album, he renews his co-operation with African musicians, just like on his last album. Well-known world music artists like Sabine Kabongo (ex-member of Zap Mama, who accompanies Gurtu in The Hague), Salif Keita and Angelique Kidjo joined him and provide beautifully sung, warm and most of all hypnotical songs. Both pop, fusion and funk can be heard in a complete package of Indian, African and American music. The leading threads running through everything are rhythmical additions of Gurtu.
