French-Indian artistes present fusion of Hindustani classical, jazz music
Tribune News Service
Amritsar, July 7
In a first-of-its-kind presentation of silent movies with live music acting as storyteller, a ciné concert was presented by artistes under the Neel Sarkar Project at Punjab Nasthala here today. The unique initiative conceived and performed by French and Indian artistes presented a fusion between Hindustani classical and Jazz music.
Performed under the initiative of Alliance Francaise, the concert titled the “Georges Melies” series by Les Mélodies de Nirbaak screened four silent films by French filmmaker and experimentalist Georges Melies — “A trip to the Moon”, “Blue Beard”, “Joan of Arc” and the “Kingdom of Fairies”.
Artistes Andrew Kay, Neel Sarkar, Pierre-Antoine Lasnier and others presented live music for the audience. They narrated film stories through music. The event received a good response from the audience.
Neel Sarkar Project is a joint venture between different musicians, whose main aim is to find new ways of interpreting the traditional Hindustani music by working on it with jazz harmonics and rhythmic structures. This is done by a flexible group of musicians out of which four of them form the heart of the project.
Neel Sarkar, who belongs to Kolkata and has been leading the group’s performances, says, “We believe music is a dialogue. It speaks, listens, interacts, gives birth and encourages new relationships. That’s the reason why music renews itself and evolves every time, the same way words and speeches change with time and audiences to which it is dedicated.”
