MUSIC
A different note of celebration on a special day
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The World Music Day celebration at Alliance Francaise brought together Bhagyada Lakshmi with some head-banging and hard rock
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Photo: K. Murali Kumar
A BEFITTING FETE Alliance's Fete De La Musique celebrated the spirit of the French idea, creating an amalgam of genres
If your hands were at work with talas while hearing "Bhagyada Lakshmi Baramma" by the Veena trio at Alliance Francaise auditorium, the rhythm soon gushed to your feet to tap at the simultaneous dance session for "Who let the dogs out," at the Atrium. Some rock bands were busy banging their heads in the air at the basement, bringing in more blast. This sums up the festive air that the Alliance Francaise de Bangalore exuded during their World Music Day celebrations recently. The day, celebrated for 25 years now on each and every street of France, is called the Fete De La Musique, which not just witnesses concerts of varied kind, but infuses the sheer spirit of revelry into the mood.
Eric Rousseau, Director, Alliance Francaise, Bangalore said: "We have a whole range of people performing, from the underprivileged children of the Parikrama choir, the funky rock-and-Bollywood-combo to the classical Carnatic and Western. The amalgam is nothing but a signature culture of the French commemorating World Music Day with a variety of music. Started by the Cultural Minister of France, the Fete is not just for consuming music but brings in orchestras, bands, choirs and groups for propelling a fusion of different genres to get a feel of World Music."
The French have several elements to their music like Heritage, Creation, Hip-Hop-Rock and Rap-Rai (a mixture of rock and Arabic music) and all these come alive on this day in France during the `Faite' that Rousseau describes as a musical fiesta to energise the streets.
"Last year about 150 groups took part in the Fete at the Bangalore festival, and this year too, there has been an overwhelming response," said the director.
"Imagine if there could be music at Cubbon Park, Brigade Road or Lalbagh. Anyway the city has made its beginnings with night-long music at Bangalore Habba," says Rousseau. "A festival such as this enables a cultural exchange, it's interesting to see such diversity," said veena player R. K. Shankar, before taking to the stage.
R.K. Shankar, Geetha Navale and Meena Murthy on the Veena along with B. N. Ramesh on the mridanga not only brought in an air of classical atmosphere with "Vathapi Ganapathim" and "Sudhamayi", but some foot-tapping rhythms on the English Note and Sivaranjani Tillana (of R. K. Suryanarayana) had the whole hall joining in, and was sure a hit for the classical starters.
The Bangalore School of Music's String Quartet Western Classical had Stefan Pontinen on the violin. On a French and Swedish government scholarship to India, the violinist has also participated in well-known Malmo Theatre orchestras and with reputed ensembles of Scandinavia, Spain and other European countries. Stefan was accompanied by Noel Gerard on the violin, Carol George and Ashis Biswas on the viola to come up with heady pieces as "Blue Tango", Mozart's "Movement" and "Sea-C-Major" and "Gallop" by Offen Bach.
BSPA brought a 12-member Western Classical choir by Camerata which was a delightful addition to the evening. "If not a formal gathering, we love to play to this receptive audience during the festival," said Neecia Majolly, who leads the choir and has participated several times in the Alliance fete. And who would forget the choir's big bit — Handel's "Messiah"?
The finale to the fete was a dance ensemble rocked by hip-hop-jive, rock, pop, Salsa, Arabic and Bollywood tunes that made several groups shake a leg, while the group Body Language put in some imaginative and rhythmic moves to lend an aesthetic expression to dance that flooded the evening at the Atrium.
Galeej Gurus, Maximum Pudding, and Paradigm Shift playing classic rock, Aurko playing mellow rock, Yantra jamming the jazz-Hindustani-Carnatic way, and T.S. Mani's Karnataka College of Percussion — all added a sparkle to the evening at Alliance.
RANJANI GOVIND
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