The Hindu November Fest: breaking new ground

The classical merges with jazz, folk, cinema and more, in an experiment that explores the stream of consciousness in music — The Hindu November Fest is breaking new ground

October 07, 2017 01:34 pm | Updated November 11, 2017 01:19 pm IST

 Benny Dayal, Kaushiki Chakraborty and Rakesh Chaurasia

Benny Dayal, Kaushiki Chakraborty and Rakesh Chaurasia

For the last three months, on a WhatsApp group titled Classical and Beyond, exclusively created for sharing thoughts on a production by the same name, six musicians — Kaushiki Chakraborty, Taufiq Qureshi, Rakesh Chaurasia, Purbayan Chatterjee, Satyajit Talwalkar and Sudhanshu Gharpure — have been poring over interesting ideas that could find expression on stage.

Classical and Beyond, the opening act of the 13th edition of The Hindu November Fest, is a collaborative conversation between a group of talented musicians, all of whom have deep-rooted connections with the classical world but are keen to engage with music both near and far from its production. “The concert’s crux is the idea of melding and blending… We meld everything — our music, musicality, egos and personalities — and let it blend to create something unique, something real, something harmonious, with a distinct character of its own,” says Qureshi, the acclaimed percussion artiste and composer.

That, in a sense, is at the core of its programming. It is, as its curator, and also Editor, The Hindu Group, Mukund Padmanabhan, says, “really a mix of artistes, known and little-known, experienced and young, willing to work together and make music.”

 Singer Sid Sriram

Singer Sid Sriram

Embracing the new

For 12 years now, the Fest has become synonymous with intelligent experiments and expressions in music that excite, engage and enrich. With a strong line-up of artistes, both experienced and aspiring, this travelling festival has consciously enabled audiences an atmosphere of music that is varied and unbridled.

Unfolding in Chennai on November 9, and travelling thereafter over two weekends to Bengaluru and Hyderabad, the core of this year’s edition is the idea of the seamless: a celebration of stream of consciousness in music. In Classical and Beyond, the attempt is to create music that has an identity of its own; music that flows freely from the classical stream, journeying into the realm of the semi-classical, devotional, Sufi and folk, resulting in a production that celebrates equally the power of the classical and the flavour of its myriad by-products.

“That’s the thing about someone who has her/his roots so strong in the classical,” says Chakraborty, the Hindustani classical musician. “You can easily venture out and do anything, and with ease. The discipline is so deeply entrenched that experiments outside of the classical are also done with utmost sincerity and honesty to the craft.”

This production, conceived by Shashikant Vyas of Pancham Nishad, an outfit dedicated to the promotion of the Indian classical arts, is also a coming together of artistes who share common interests and aesthetics in the context of the arts, both on stage and off it. “As a result,” Chaurasia, well-known flautist and composer, says, “there is a very nuanced understanding of each other’s musicality and sensibilities. When Kaushiki is singing, for example, I know exactly what to do; where to allow her the liberty to journey on her own, where to step in, how to step in, when to take over, and how to come together.”

 UK-based singer-songwriter Lail Arad and her Canadian counterpart, JF Robitaille.

UK-based singer-songwriter Lail Arad and her Canadian counterpart, JF Robitaille.

Screen to stage

Echoing a similar stream of consciousness approach is The Music Men, the grand finale of the festival, where Benny Dayal and his band, Funktuation, along with pianist Anil Srinivasan, will introduce a brand new genre of music, Cinema Cool. In its rendering, the concert will freely cruise through a cinematic landscape, allowing audiences an amalgam of influences and experiences that shape and inform the music of the artistes. The playback singer, with a massive fan following across Bollywood and Tamil cinema, breaks down the idea, saying, “Cinema is, needless to say, cool, especially when it stays true to its roots. But what will make this work interesting is the possibility to experiment and expand its horizon in a way that there is a cross-over of sorts; in a way that the music you hear is earthy, urban and fresh.” Accompanying Dayal on three key segments is the Chennai-based pianist, who avers he will engage with him in a “genre-independent dialogue”.

Chennai will also experience the universality of art in an exclusive production titled Boundless, curated by Los Angeles-based classical and playback singer, Sid Sriram, in collaboration with a hand-picked line-up of artistes. A two-hour performance, where different musical genres, dance, movement and visuals come together — reflecting Sriram’s own personality in music, which operates across artistic streams — it is a meeting point of his “Carnatic roots, film music and my own original music”. “Now, take this genre-bending, boundary-pushing sound and add the dimension of movement and storytelling, by way of Bharatanatyam, and the idea of visual ambience created by bold colours — the combination of these worlds is Boundless,” says Sriram, adding, “This show is really a product of the idea that there is a common current that strings all of humanity together.”

@ Music Academy, 7.30 pm
  • Nov 9: Classical and Beyond (jugalbandi) by Kaushiki Chakraborty (vocals), Taufiq Qureshi (percussion), Rakesh Chaurasia (flute), Purbayan Chatterjee (sitar / electric sitar), Satyajit Talwalkar (tabla), Sudhanshu Gharpure (keyboard and harmonium)
  • Nov 10: Boundless by Sid Sriram (electronic, Carnatic, R&B / pop and film)
  • Nov 11: Tower of Song (indie / folk) by Lail Arad and JF Robitaille
  • Nov 12: The Music Men (Cinema Cool) by Benny Dayal & The Band with Anil Srinivasan
  • Tickets
  • Season pass: ₹2,500 and ₹1,500
  • Classical & Beyond, Boundless and Tower of Song: ₹750, ₹500 and ₹300
  • The Music Men: ₹1,000, ₹500, ₹300
  • To book tickets for The Hindu November Fest, go to thehindu.com/tickets2017, or call 7299911222 between 10 am and 5 pm for more details.

From LA to Chennai

Sharing space with these interesting voices and sounds is UK-based singer-songwriter Lail Arad and her Canadian counterpart, JF Robitaille. The independent duo, whose music has the quality of re-creating the energy of old folk clubs on the big stage, are currently on a two-month tour across Europe, but confess they are excited about their début performance in India. “It’s like a dream come true,” says Arad, whose music is deeply nourished by the ’60s and ’70s folk, “It’s the music we both grew up listening to and also the music we bonded over, when we first met.”

As singers-songwriters, who like to use lyrics and melody to explore their personal histories and experiences, Arad says their performance, titled Tower of Song, will have a vibe of Greenwich village, NYC, in 1960; chatty and personal. In addition to some of their original music, including the most-recent, We Got it Coming, audiences will also hear the music of song writing heroes like Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen.

Despite being distinct from the other acts, Tower of Song is also, in a sense, an exploration of the idea of music and its limitless possibilities. An interesting addition to Arad and Robitaille’s collaboration is the inclusion of a third element, Chennai-based percussionist and sound engineer, Mt Aditya Srinivasan. “My interactions with them have only been online, so far,” he confesses, “but it has been so much fun. Bringing my own percussive touch and perspective to their songs and working on arrangements, I hope will add a unique dimension to the music.”

What’s also exciting about these acts is these cross-cultural collaborations that are happening, literally on the go. On her way home from a short holiday in London, Kaushiki remembers to check in and say hello on the WhatsApp group and bounce off an idea she thought of just before she nodded off on the flight. “These people, these artistes, they are my friends, colleagues,” she says, “So the interactions are spontaneous and easy. Plus, to tell you the truth, words like classical, semi-classical, devotional, are jargons that actually exist in our own heads, in our intellectual space. The impulse the music generates is deep and beyond these words; it’s music that touches our hearts and once that happens, these barriers really blur. What matters then is merely the feeling of music.” True that!

Dates and Venue

CHENNAI:

November 9-12, The Music Academy

BENGALURU:

November 17-19, Ambedkar Bhavan

HYDERABAD:

November 24-26, Ravindra Bharathi

Sponsors:

  • Powered by - Fiat
  • Associate Sponsor – Hindustan University & Nova Life Spaces (Chennai)
  • TV Partner – Doordarshan
  • Hospitality Partner – Taj Coromandel (Chennai), Taj Krishna (Hyderabad), Taj Westend (Bengaluru)
  • Radio Partner - Radio One (Chennai), Fever (Bengaluru & Hyderabad)
  • Sound Partner – Zebronics
  • Instrument Partner – Furtados (Bengaluru)
  • Water Partner – Aachi
  • Mall Partner - Ampa Skywalk

At a glance:

Tickets:  Click   >here  to book tickets. Also available at: > BookMyShowTicket

Daily: Rs 300, Rs 500, Rs 750, Rs 1000 | Season pass - Rs 2500, Rs 1500, Rs 1000 Help line: +91-72999-11222 (between 10 a.m. & 5 p.m.)  Follow us  Facebook:  > The Hindu November Fest Twitter: > @THNovFest

 

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