Abhradita Banerjee is in the middle of reciting a short sample of a Hindustani raga. It is already close to noon and the ambient noise has attained peak levels. The sounds of constant hammering from a nearby construction site, the engine drone of an autorickshaw passing by, and the odd crow’s cry, all seep into the drawing room of the Natyaveda School of Performing Arts, Vattiyurkavu.
Simon Richmond and Sheema Mukherjee, musicians based in the United Kingdom, are recording the sample intently.
Though the doors and windows are tightly shut, the hammer goes on in the background like off-beat percussion. In between, Abhradita’s own phone goes off in the other room, prompting another break.
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“We can keep some of those noise,” says Simon, half seriously, as someone goes off to put the mobile on silent mode.
Simon and Sheema are on a mission that can easily be labelled as creating music for ‘music therapy,’ but music is just one element of it, as they say. The duo has been travelling across the country for quite some time, in search of little-known musicians and unique sound-scapes, which could go into their project.
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“We have been to different parts of India and have collected quite a lot of samples. These range from instrumental music and vocals to ambient sounds of nature and street cacophony,” says Simon, who has produced several ‘electronica’ albums. (Electronica is a music genre which encompasses a range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses.
The uses may include foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities. The genre is loosely defined and has different connotations in different regions).
In Jaipur, they sampled the music of the Manganiyars. On a previous visit, they had discovered the Kamaicha instrument and were regaled by Chanan Khan’s playing.
“We wanted to record his music this time, but he passed away just before our visit. This time, we recorded the Manganiyars group. Since we want separate samples, the vocal and percussion artists were made to sit in different rooms and record. Though they are only comfortable playing together, we still got some beautiful results,” says Sheema, a sitar player and composer, and niece of the legendary sitarist Nikhil Banerjee.
She is also about to release her new solo album, which straddles several genres.
They are still not sure of what they will come up in the end with this project, which is expected to be completed in 6 months.
“It will be a sound-scape stretching for about an hour, which will be combined with other elements of the treatment like massage. We have a physiotherapist along with us to research on that aspect. The music will be having both Indian and British elements and will be stringed in such a way as to immerse all the senses together,” says Simon.
Simon Richmond and Sheema Mukherjee, UK-based musicians, are in search of little-known musicians and unique sounds for a ‘music therapy’ project.