Saturday, March 03, 2007

Symphony of sounds

By Parul- Chandigarh Newsline - India
Thursday, March 1, 2007

Lend an ear to a unique sound & musical creation by Darb Al-Harir, the Silky Paths. It’s a coming together of various traditional cultures — Indian, French, Arabic, Spanish.

Their language is music and they interact and explore the rhythms inside to create a sound that’s never been heard before, one that transcends the barriers of culture, religion, time, space.

So, the text is the Sufi poems of love, nature and philosophy from the 7th century, though the poetry speaks about today and the message is that of universal love. The music is the labour of love of Indian, Spanish, Arabic and French sensibilities!

“It’s a platform for various artists from different parts of the world and cultures to meet, experiment, exchange and create a unique sound, but without losing their identity, in fact, highlighting it. We co-exist, with everyone preserving their own. The sound is fresh and the persona new,’’ explains Nishith Mehta, composer, arranger and producer, stressing that this is NOT fusion, but a melodious togetherness.

It all began, explains Nishith, when he met Manuel Aguilar, a musician and artistic director and they worked together to create a music video, ‘Monsoon’ in Rajasthan in 2001. In 2002, the two, along with three French and four Rajasthani musicians created Alterites — The New Continents.

“There’s a lot of similarity between the sound, spirit, music, compositions of Spanish Flamenco, Indian folk and the music is the result of our interactions,” adds Manuel. As for the Classic Sufi Arabic poetry that Meryem Koufi, an Algerian singer loves to render, she says the poetry is both simple and complicated and can be put into the music beautifully.

While playing together, Nishith says he tuned into various sounds and explored them to compose the music, so the influences are classical Arabic, Spanish Flamenco, Indian flute, sitar, Aradi music (from Kutch) , tabla, Carnatic music...

”India has a lot to offer in folk music and I wish to folk artists a platform for till now, only tribal dance has got recognition,’’ adds Mehta, saying that will constantly be evolving, adding new influences and sounds. Let the music play.

The world music concert is brought to the city of Chandigarh by Society for Tourism and Entertainment Promotion (STEPS), Chandigarh Tourism, in collaboration with the Alliance Francaise.

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Saturday, March 03, 2007

Symphony of sounds
By Parul- Chandigarh Newsline - India
Thursday, March 1, 2007

Lend an ear to a unique sound & musical creation by Darb Al-Harir, the Silky Paths. It’s a coming together of various traditional cultures — Indian, French, Arabic, Spanish.

Their language is music and they interact and explore the rhythms inside to create a sound that’s never been heard before, one that transcends the barriers of culture, religion, time, space.

So, the text is the Sufi poems of love, nature and philosophy from the 7th century, though the poetry speaks about today and the message is that of universal love. The music is the labour of love of Indian, Spanish, Arabic and French sensibilities!

“It’s a platform for various artists from different parts of the world and cultures to meet, experiment, exchange and create a unique sound, but without losing their identity, in fact, highlighting it. We co-exist, with everyone preserving their own. The sound is fresh and the persona new,’’ explains Nishith Mehta, composer, arranger and producer, stressing that this is NOT fusion, but a melodious togetherness.

It all began, explains Nishith, when he met Manuel Aguilar, a musician and artistic director and they worked together to create a music video, ‘Monsoon’ in Rajasthan in 2001. In 2002, the two, along with three French and four Rajasthani musicians created Alterites — The New Continents.

“There’s a lot of similarity between the sound, spirit, music, compositions of Spanish Flamenco, Indian folk and the music is the result of our interactions,” adds Manuel. As for the Classic Sufi Arabic poetry that Meryem Koufi, an Algerian singer loves to render, she says the poetry is both simple and complicated and can be put into the music beautifully.

While playing together, Nishith says he tuned into various sounds and explored them to compose the music, so the influences are classical Arabic, Spanish Flamenco, Indian flute, sitar, Aradi music (from Kutch) , tabla, Carnatic music...

”India has a lot to offer in folk music and I wish to folk artists a platform for till now, only tribal dance has got recognition,’’ adds Mehta, saying that will constantly be evolving, adding new influences and sounds. Let the music play.

The world music concert is brought to the city of Chandigarh by Society for Tourism and Entertainment Promotion (STEPS), Chandigarh Tourism, in collaboration with the Alliance Francaise.

No comments: