Curated by: Tejaswini Niranjana
Supported by Moonchu Foundation and Kwan Fong Cultural Research and Development Programme, Lingnan University
About Saath-Saath
This is a series of musical collaborations across India and China. The two performative traditions go back to ancient times, but are seemingly incapable of collaborating because of basic differences in the practice. Their apparent musical incompatibility signals, in a microcosm, why these two ancient cultures often appear incapable of a conversation. The collaborations enabled by Saath Saath – which has to date included classical singers from India, musicians and performers from Kunqu opera, instrumental performers on the pipa and yangqin, and practitioners of Cantopop – begin with a different presumption: that the connections may well be found in the way each tradition encounters modernity.
Major issues of cultural politics get translated into conditions of practice when musicians encounter questions like: what does improvisation mean in modern times? When do traditions become ‘fixed’, and what happens when their fixity, or their underlying beliefs, are challenged? Does a focus on the practice of music, including here literally the condition of its rehearsal, open new possibilities? What does skill mean in the present? What do modes of performance and musical teaching styles in India and China tell us about how we relate to our everyday worlds?
The concert will feature vocal and instrumental compositions. The vocal presentations will span Hindustani, Cantonese and Mandarin.
Musical Collaborations: Omkar Havaldar, Rutuja Lad, Bindumalini Narayanaswamy, Chow Yiu-Fai, Ip Kimho, Zhang Yi
Accompaniment: Jorge Ramiro Monroy (tabla)
