The Capital recently witnessed the World Soul Concert, a Caribbean jazz performance by Erika Lernot along with Siam Lee, Mushki and Romain Timmers which mesmerised the old and young alike in the audience.
During the concert, which was part of the Francophonie Week celebrations, Erika sang songs about long lost love and lost cities. Charming the audience with her youthfulness and enthusiasm as she effortlessly connected with them and conveyed the artistic influences acquired from world music.
Speaking about World music she said: “It’s only natural that these sounds should blend so beautifully, and makes the barrier of language disappear. Music is universal love. Just feel the vibrations you don't have to think about anything or understand any word. It’s in your blood, it’s magic.”
Reflecting on language, Siam the guitarist and composer who described as a negligible barrier said: “Music is a language in itself with power to touch people’s emotions and when you achieve that, who cares about the language. In the beginning I thought that it might be a problem but after performing so many shows and watching people connect and groove to your music, language doesn’t really matters much now.”
The 32-year-old singer grew up listening to world music, Chanson franchise, jazz and soul by diverse people started as a chorist before releasing her first album “Le Voyage” (The Journey) in 2013. Her maiden album was a perfect blend of all the music she was influenced by.
The singer revealed that after her current Indian tour she has decided to explore the country for a few months and work on her second album. “I have started to learn a bit of Tamil. It is very difficult for the Europeans to learn but I would really love to learn what India has to offer and the journey goes on.”
During the concert Erika sang in English and said she is looking forward to compose new songs in Hindi in collaboration with Indian music artists, producers and directors.
Besides the concert, several other events like film screening and shows were also held during the annual event Francophonie Week organised the Alliance Francaise de Delhi.