Music Beyond Words..Music of Different Realms.. Desert Musicians and Birds on Strings
Music Beyond Words..
During the Rajasthan trip, I was quite fascinated to know about and experience the street musicians of the desert..in Jodhpur and Jaisalmer..A community called Manganiyar, who are muslims, but they go to the temples and they usually go around and sing songs from the Hindu epics and hymns!! Despite all the politics of religions, and the negativity, this has a heart-warming charm and holds out a candle of hope flickering in the winds of hatred and intolerance; it might be just a far away flicker in the desert wind not much noticed or appreciated elsewhere in the increasingly sceptical subcontinent scarred by hatred-mongering, vengeance, vendetta, distrust, frustration of the youth, penetration of terrorism..and what not?! But still, they are like an oasis of optimism within the draining heat and dryness of partisan religio-political landscape!
So, I was excited to see the poster about the Manganiyar music program in London; The poster as such is quite STRIKING (a musical chord within! ;)..
Later as I experienced it live, I felt there's Soul of Sufi and then there's Spirit of Bhakti, if you will!.. Very unique indeed. Felt very unique in the way it was directed and presented, the surprise elements kept till the very end, and even how it grew into the very cosmopolitan audience not knowing what to expect really.. and later how they grew into the performance with a very spontaneous "clapping Jugalbandhi" (without anyone urging) with the musicians until giving up to the nuances of the people who Breath and Live their music!! .. where words travelled beyond the realm of meanings and cultural barriers and merged with the vibrating chords.. Starting on Sufi notes, it ended with a paean to Krishna, the Indian casanova..
Photography was not allowed to avoid the disturbing flashes. But I sneaked in a few silently ;) With a stacked-up stage design, I went for the gallery thinking that might give the best angle, but it turned out to be the worst ;(
The 'theatre director' from Delhi Roysten Abel, who never did any sort of 'music directing' (and does a lot of Shakespear, he said), explained in a post-show talk how such a musical ensemble came into being, and reflecting on the troupe's experiences, mentioned in half-jest
how the troupe of around 50 people, mostly Khan's, can make all hell break loose with airport security!, and they are eagerly waiting for a US tour that's coming up soon, with fingers crossed.
Birds On Guitar..
A free exhibition at the Barbican's "Curve"-a curved hall, where 8 electric guitars installed horizontally on sand and some cymbals with water and feed, and 40 zebra finches left free, they often look busy and hyperactive, flitting around you, perching on the guitars, and going about their business, pushing, shoving, fighting, overbearing the rest of the bunch sharing the perching "bass", ousting from perching spots, cooing with mates, and occasionally landing with air cargo of dry grass and twigs..
and all the while, you can listen to the acoustic interpretation of their moods being spontaneously played out on the strings, amplified and sometimes with echo effects.. I ended up spending a good 80minutes without realising time flew faster than my thoughts!
posted by Sujith at 7:37 AM
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