JOIN USLanguage is no barrier to building musical bridges
Working between Bengaluru and Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing, Saath-Saath project has been finding ways of promoting encounters between musicians, and experimenting with both form and content to create something new. Tejaswini Niranjana, the curator of the project, says the collaboration has proved that language is no barrier to build new musical bridges. In an interview with Metrolife, Tejaswini Niranjana, the curator, talks about the collaboration and more.
How did such a unique collaboration come about?
Saath-Saath brings together Hindustani vocalists, Chinese instrumentalists and singers, lyricists, composers, and scholars from both India and China. I started working in Hong Kong in 2016, after spending several years researching the social and cultural history of Hindustani music in Mumbai city. I began to wonder about the musical and cultural parallels between India and China, and decided to explore it not through conventional means of doing scholarly research but through a practice-based collaboration between musicians. I spoke to three talented young musicians in India who brought with them diverse kinds of training and experience. We slowly began to reach out to Chinese music people in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing.
Your new compositions are...
To give you some idea of the new compositions put together by the Saath Saath artistes, we have a ‘dadra’ (a semi-classical Hindustani form) in the Cantonese language; we have a ‘kunqu’ opera (the oldest form of opera in China) artiste sing a Hindustani bandish; in turn, Hindustani vocalists render a medieval Chinese lyric taken from the ‘kunqu’ opera repertoire, treating it like a ‘khayal’ bandish; we have a renowned Cantopop lyricist writing new poems in his language in response to Hindustani melodies, which are then rendered by the Indian singers.
How has the history of the two countries helped you make new music?
The musical crossings between India and China date back to the sixth century, a good 1400 years ago. That’s when musical scales in China were transformed under the influence of Indian or South Asian music. Sadly, we don’t know enough about those old connections between musicians in India and China. From the 19th century onwards, in each of these countries music began to conform to national ambitions and feed into uniquely ‘national’ traditions. The sense of connecting with the larger region, whether with western Asia or with China and other eastern locations, was no longer there. So the musical history of India and China don’t really help in making new music. In China, for example, musical education in the 20th century was deeply influenced by the Soviet Union and by Western classical music. There is no parallel to this in India.
What is the best part about being the curator?
I am amazed how these distinct individual performers with their own reputations are able to work together without any ego and do this with humour and affection towards each other. Maybe I have just been lucky, but the performers on both the Indian and Chinese sides have been enthusiastic about working together.
What have you learnt through the collaboration?
The way music works to bring such separate cultures together is both surprising and heartening. As a curator, I have learnt the value of persistence in the face of seemingly impossible conversations where language and musical training have obstructed dialogue.
What will the audience of Bengaluru get to see during the performance here?
They will get a snapshot of the project so far, and listen to the Indians singing in Cantonese and Mandarin, but in Hindustani style; we have a new collaboration with a folk-singer from western China who is trying to understand the nuances of Indian music; and another collaboration with a yangqin player from Hong Kong who is attempting to play the santoor with his yangqin sticks.
Saath-Saath music Across the water will be held on June 27, 6.30 pm onwards at No 1, Shanti Road, Bheemanna Garden, Shanti Nagar. For details, call Suresh Jayaram on 9880227706.