Italian duo excelling in Indian Classical Music

Igino Giovanni Brunori and Virginia Nicoli of Samvad are an innovative musical duo crafting new sounds from ancient materials. Their performances are meditative journeys through a rich landscape of melody and rhythm, using bansuri (Indian bamboo flute), silver flute and saxophone.  Abhijit Ganguly spoke to them.

What attracted you to Indian music in the first place and how did you get involved?

We both studied western classical music since childhood. At one point, we felt the necessity to compose our own music and to learn how to improvise. In Indian music, we found the deepness we were looking for. We found that it is spiritual way through music. We first heard Hariprasad Chaurasia's bansuri playing and fell in love with it and afterwards had the honour to have some workshops with him in Italy. Soon, we met our Gurujis Gundecha Brothers and started studying with them. In Dhrupad, we finally found the sound path that we were looking for.

How was Samvad conceived?

We met in the year 2006 and started our musical journey in Indian classical music together. From the very beginning, we continued to practice, study and perform together. We have been in a natural jugalbandi from the very beginning, not only performing together but practicing and creating together.We chose the name Samvad for our duo only a few years ago,which means 'dialogue', to speak together, as well as being the Indian term for consonance. This is what we give a lot of importance to: the dialogue between us and also the samvad that is created between the notes of the raga.

You have been collaborating with many Indian musicians. Could you share some of your memorable moments?

We mostly had the honor to perform with our Gurujis, the Gundecha Brothers, on many occasions in India and Europe. From the Saptak festival in Ahmadabad to the Bengaluru Habba in Bangalore to Sawai Gandharva in Pune and many other occasions, it has been the most amazing teaching for us. To share the stage with them is always a great blessing. The Saptak festival and recently the Sawai Gandhrava were definitely the best moments. The musical mood was amazing and the audience was very enthusiastic. When you are on stage and you would like it to go on forever, that is the best. The music takes you, and there is only the present. We had the honour performed some concerts with Akhilesh Gundecha and his student Dnyaneshwar Deshmukh. In Europe, we performed with other Indian musicians such as Rishab Prasanna and Sougata Roy Chowdhury from Kolkata.

What are your views on the guru-shishya parampara in today’s world?

Many Indian traditions in the past were passed from one generation to the next by the guru-shishya-parampara system. We feel that it is a very special way of teaching-learning process, necessary to reach a deep understanding of Indian Classical Music.

It is like a river bed, bringing the river on the right way, always the same and also changing every moment, allowing the changes within the tradition and in this way keeping it alive.

Do you feel learning classical music helped you gain a better perspective of life?

We think that whenever you find your way, whatever it is, you automatically gain a better perspective of life. So, the answer is yes. It is a never ending way but we feel complete by studying this music. In the modern world, we tend to forget that art is as necessary to human life as water and food. Classical traditions are the basics of all art forms. It is fundamental to any artistic development. Dhrupad music is known to be a Margi sangeet, the music that shows you the way. It is one of the most refined and subtle musical approaches on earth. We wish that the same attention that is given to perfection in these art forms could be applied to other things in India to preserve the incredible beauty, tradition and richness of this country. If only humanity could try to preserve the most amazing art ever that is nature. Maybe we can achieve the sensibility by studying art and in this way create a better life perspective for all living beings.

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Hungary for the classical guitar

András Csáki was born in Budapest, Hungary, where he currently resides. He began to play the guitar when he was ll years old. In 2005, Csáki won the international guitar competition in Vienna, the “Forum Gitarre.” That year at Beograd, Serbia-Montenegro, he took first prize in the XXXV International Jeunesses Musicales Competition. In 2004, he won the Jan Edmund Jurkowski International Guitar Competition in Tychy, Poland. Talking about the present scenario of contemporary classical guitar, Andras feels, “The scenario of contemporary classical guitar looks very colourful. Many guitarists are going for crossover styles. I, though, personally prefer the conservative classical guitar playing. You can play many styles in this instrument, be it flamenco, bach, or contemporary. Classical guitar is very popular in my country. Most of the kids start by learning popular music, but when they go to music school they develop an interest in learning classical guitar. Guitar is one of the most popular instruments. It is not an expensive instrument. May be in future if I get a chance to collaborate with Indian musicians I will go for it.” Andras performed at the Calcutta International Classical Guitar Festival & Competition 20l3. When asked whether he loves to play as a solo performer or in a chamber, Andras says, “I enjoy playing both. In chamber music the responsibility is shared.” Taking about the intrusion of techno- logy, he feels, “The YouTube and internet are useful. As viewers, we can learn a lot about various performances that we may never be in a position to view first hand. But as concert musicians, we have to compete with YouTube and convince audiences to come to watch live concerts. So it has some ups and downs.” His advice for aspiring musicians, “Just enjoy it!”

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An Awesome Twosome

                                                                                                                   Sanna and Bobby  

Duo NIHZ believes in out of the box performances. Thus they integrate music, theatre, narrative art and visual arts in their performances. Together Bobby Rootveld on guitar and Sanna van Elst on recorders forms Duo NIHZ. This ensemble is from the Netherlands. NIHZ in Dutch stands for ‘Niet-In-Het-Zwart’ and in English this translates to ‘Not-Wearing-Black-Clothes’. As Bobby elaborates, “We do two kinds of music. One is music with theatre and comedy. We believe in doing more creative stuff in addition to playing   instruments. We like to combine elements of comedy, magic, theatre and acrobatic influences with our music. We also play Jewish music. This is because it's part of my family and upbringing. I can bring in a lot of emotions to it.” In 2009 Duo NIHZ received a special 'Certificate of Acknowledgement' during the International Jewish Music Festival of Amsterdam. In January 2011, Duo NIHZ opened its own concert hall in Nordhorn, Germany. Bobby and Sanna are also the founders of the Guitar Festival, Nordhorn, and the Recorder Festival, Nordhorn. Bobby was about five years old when he fell in love with the music of the Beatles. He wanted to play their music and started reading books about them. The most important book for him was one about the Beatles in Rishikesh. His first dream was to be a musician and visit India.

Recently Duo NIHZ performed at the Calcutta International Classical Guitar Festival & Competition 2013. Talking about it, Bobby says, “In festivals like this, people who share the same interests and have love for the same instrument meet and make new friends. When we first came here in 2010 we saw young guys in their 20s learning the guitar and now they are teaching guitar to children and these children have won awards at competitions outside India. This is a great development.”

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Freedom Bus: A Journey through Palestine

                                                                                               Ben Rivers

                                                                                                                                                Writer, educator and drama therapist

Since 20ll, the Freedom Theatre’s Freedom Bus has engaged Palestinians and people from abroad to engage in the cultural movement to address Israel’s practice of settler colonialism, military occupation and structural apartheid. Writer, educator and drama therapist Ben Rivers speaks to   Abhijit  Ganguly  on  the  sidelines of an interactive session organized by Modern Academy of Continuing Education (MACE).  

How did the Freedom Bus initiative happen?

Freedom Theatre was established in 2006. Its purpose is to use theatre and other cultural activities to raise awareness about the realities of life under Israeli occupation. Originally, it scripted plays to tour in Europe and US. Freedom bus is an initiative of the freedom theatre. It was one way of expanding the activities that were already taking place. Freedom bus uses a very different form of theatre, that is, playback theatre. It is not scripted or devised, but improvised. Playback Theatre was formed in 1975 by Jonathan Fox and his partner, Jo Salas, who were part of the Hudson River Playback theatre company. Since then, it has spread all over the world. The playback theatre troupe that we developed at the Freedom Theatre was the first Arab playback theatre troupe in the world. Our idea was to use playback theatre in villages, refugee camps and communities throughout the West Bank. We wanted to invite people from all over the world to come and listen to the stories. The basic concept was to raise awareness on what's happening because the mainstream media presents a skewed picture of the Palestinian reality.

How much were you inspired by civil rights movement worldwide?

In August September 2011, there were a group of Palestinian protestors who were inspired by the freedom rights movement that took place in the early 1960s as part of the civil rights movement. We were inspired by these actions and of course by the original freedom rights movement that took place in America. In the early 1960s, activists re-enacted the freedom rights struggle in Australia in a way of bringing attention to the discrimination that the aboriginal people faced in Australia. Over the decades, many people around the world have been inspired by the freedom rights movement. When we started this initiative, I didn’t know much about the history of people’s theatre in India. But on this trip, I worked with the Budhan theatre and Jana Natya Manch. I have been to Jana Sanskriti. India probably has the richest and most radical people’s theatre in the world. It is very inspiring. I am hoping to take back something from here to people I work with in Palestine.

To what extent have you been successful in attracting international attention?

We have a very diverse audience. They consist of Palestinians living in communities where we perform. Then Palestinian artists and activists from other parts of Palestine join. This is very important because Israel tries to impose restrictions on the indigenous population and they have done this successfully by building a separation wall and putting up checkpoints and roadblocks. Palestinians have been separated from each other and one of our objectives is to bring them together. We also have internationals who visit. The role of the internationals is very important. They go back to their countries and put pressure on their governments to withdraw their support of Israel over the issue of occupation. We have journalists, photographers and filmmakers who frequently attend our performances. We have also attracted significant endorsements. Endorsers of the Freedom Bus include Alice Walker, Angela Davis, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, John Berger, Judith Butler, Luisa Morgantini, Maya Angelou, Mairead Maguire, Mazin Qumsiyeh, Noam Chomsky, Omar Barghouti and Peter Brook.

The Freedom Bus is also endorsed by the Boy- cott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC) and the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI). A range of other artists, activists, academics and organizations have endorsed the Freedom Bus.

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