After a 7 hour flight from Amsterdam the Far East Revisited team has arrived in Delhi just before midnight. India! The most exciting part of the project so far, also the country where Ellington and his band played the most concerts back in 1963. The tour organiser, mister Anand, picks us up from the airport, and has arranged three cars for the group + double bass. Most of us fit in the colourful taxi’s,

but Raaf and I have the honour to drive with Anand in his private car. This is a brand new Mercedes, driven by ‘James’. It’s a half hour ride during which Anand impresses us with his notorious knowledge of random facts. ‘Where do you live?’ he asks me. -In Amsterdam, near the Concertgebouw, I reply. -Ah, which direction if I would face the Rijksmuseum? -Eh, you’d need to go right then, in the so called Van Baerlestraat. -Yes I know that street.. you mean direction of Café Wildschut? -Yes sir, and you take the third street to your right! -So, I could as well take tram 3 or 16? - - I am flabbergasted. How does he know?!? Are all Indians like this!? We will find out soon.
We drive through a posh residential area where all the embassies are located. ‘Look, that’s the Dutch embassy, watch carefully - you should know where your tax money is going!’.

The hotel is fine, Anand even brought a box of beer, which tastes great in the back garden. After one bottle we realize it is past 2 am local time, and hit the hay as we are supposed to give workshops tomorrow morning.
AW

During our third concert in Guangzhou the jazz trio plays this Chinese tune with Pipa (left) and Erhu (right). Maarten Ornstein plays a spontaneous solo, the audience loves it. We have a much better audio recording than this one, but it takes too much time to put this together professionally. Hope this gives an impression! AW

In Shanghai we bumped into this wonderful pair of musicians. They were playing on a rather crowded street in the campus of Shanghai University and many people, even students, gave them some cash. I was struck by their intense, concentrated way of playing, as well as by the inventive construction that allowed the old man to play the wood block with his right foot. I video taped at least 10′ but only later I realised what happens in this 57’’ scene. Blind musicians probably have such good ears that they’ll easily distinguish the sound of the different coins thrown into their money box. But if someone (like Raaf) throws in a note, they don’t even notice! On the left you see a Chinese man who kindly tells the old woman that she’d better empty the box. They stop playing, take the money, smile… and continue playing. Slightly faster than before. AW