Guilty Pleasures music mix: here this Saturday

A Guilty Pleasures music mix to get you in the mood for the club night here this Saturday in the Clore Ballroom.

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Upcoming gig: Syriana – The Making of The Road To Damascus

Syriana play Arabic rhythms ‘through a Western filter’ to create a unique sound that transcends both gerographic and cultural boundaries.  Here members of the band speak about the making of their album The Road to Damascus.

                                  

See Syriana as part of These Lands are Your Lands on Saturday 7 May at Southbank Centre’s Purcell Room. Get tickets here

Ether 2011: Adrian Utley (Portishead) & Will Gregory (Goldfrapp) collaborate for The Passion of Joan of Arc

Adrian Utley

Will Gregory, photo: Chris Chrisodoulou

Shot in France in 1927 by Carl Theodore Dreyer, the silent film The Passion of Joan of Arc was the victim of 55 years of bad luck. Censored before its release in 1928, the original negative was destroyed by fire. Then a second negative re-edited by Dreyer from alternate takes was also thought lost to fire. For more than half a century, this great classic of silent film was known only in mutilated copies, or in a sonorised version which made numerous changes to the original.

Then in 1981, an original Danish copy, complete and in very good condition, was miraculously discovered in a closet of a Norwegian mental institution.

Now Goldfrapp’s Will Gregory and Portishead’s Adrian Utley have collaborated to give The Passion of Joan of Arc a 21st-century make-over creating an original score set to the silent film.

Southbank Centre welcomes this fusion of 15th-century French heroism, 20th-century movie history and 21st-century music-making to close Ether festival 2011.

Catch The Passion of Joan of Arc at Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall as part of Ether 2011 on Thursday 28 April. Get tickets here

The Arun Ghosh Adventures

Copyright 2011 © Yemisi Blake

Last night Alchemy Artist in Residence Arun Ghosh presented a cine-concert. It was original contemporary soundtrack to The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926), the oldest surviving feature length animation in cinema’s history. Arun is well known for his band, in which his clarinet leads a precession of drums, saxophone, percussion and voice. The score for the Adventures of Prince Achmed showcased his musical ability to really drive emotion. Creating sound for such an iconic film must be a difficult job, especially not to overpower the shadow-puppetry, which is so graceful. But last night’s event pulled together jazz, funk, soul, indian classical and hip-hop to enhance the a narrative that passes through love, loss, tragedy, comedy and myth.

Here is a 90 second interview with Arun. He was interviewed a couple of hours before the show by the festival Alchemists, a group of young volunteers blogging about and assisting on the festival.

Mumbai Jazz – Pre-show Interviews

This is a video of the interview and tech run of Mumbai Jazz a couple hours before the performance on 18^th April as part of the Alchemy Festival. Charlotte and I interviewed two of the musicians Larry Coryell and Rajesh Rajbhatt.

Puja Mistry, Alchemist

Circle of Sound – A conversation with Soumik Datta

Copyright 2011 © Yemisi Blake

Could you please introduce yourself for the readers of the blog.

Hi, my name is Soumik Datta and I am an artist in residence here for Alchemy Festival 2011. I’m having a great time and I’ve been here all week. I’ve done my show and now I’m working with Gauriji on her show.

We’ve heard that you are the first person to play the sarod like a guitar, could you please tell us how that came about?

I guess living in this country; you get to see lots of different kinds of music, you get exposed to different influences. But being a product of Britain and an Asian in Britain I felt that standing up having played chordal material on the sarod wasn’t impossible it just hasn’t been done before because people haven’t felt it to be appropriate. I feel that is very appropriate to the music that I want to present and so it just came about really.

What is that kind of music you want to present to everyone?

Well, I think the thing is with the classical world is that everything is really set and I think that people have pre-conceptions of music, dance and the arts generally. My aim is to present something that is true to life. We’re British Asian, you’re British Asian and so am I and playing pure classical Indian music seems somehow incongruous to the life we lead. If this is my profession and if this is my art it has to be inline with my life, I mean why should it be miles apart? I think that my music should say something about my life and I think that the music I present should be truthful to the lives we lead, which is a combination of Indian elements and Western elements. My show had a lot of AV and audio-visual stuff, pre-recorded text and theatre elements which is something that I’ve picked working with Akram Khan and Nitin Sawhney who are obvious pioneers in this field. I have an idea on what the next step might be and I’d like to try it out.

How do you think your show went generally?

I think it was received really well. I got a standing ovation so generally it went well and it got some great reviews. But for me I still have a while to go before I achieve what I had in mind, the concept of the concert. Basically what I had in mind was that it wasn’t just a music concert, where people play a couple of pieces. What I wanted was a combined, integrated experience where people come in and they watch these videos, and hear this music, the watch the spacing and there is a choreography to it and they come away with a more holistic experience. Full with everything combined rather than a concert experience. I think that is the way forward because otherwise people don’t come to shows really, they would rather stay at home. I mean no one wants to pay £12.00, £13.50 to see a show of an emerging artist unless you give them something new.

The last question, you mentioned earlier that you had a vision of a holistic experience in concerts. Do you have any ideas on how to develop it further?

In the future yeah, I would love to collaborate with Nitin Sawhney on the next project, which would be something like this. He came and introduced the show, which was really sweet of him, he’s a good friend and I’d love to work with someone who is on that level who has been around for a while. He has a voice and a stamp in the industry, a trademark sound and I’d love to bring my ideas and my sound and bring it to him to see if we can collaborate and take it to the next level. There are a couple of shows that I have in mind for the future, Circle of Sound is now developing as we have another show of the 24th of June in the Songlines Encounters Festival.. It’s going to be a bit different to this show but it is still Circle of Sound, it’s an ongoing development project. After this we will be working on something called Footprints, which I won’t say so much about now but it’s the next step.

Interview by Anjali Banerjee, Alchemist.

Calligraphy in Motion – Fashion Show

Caligraphy in Motion was Alchemy Festival’s first fashion event. Kinetic Calligraphy, conceived by Meera and Muzaffar Ali, is an innovative way of wearing Sufi script. Over the last 21 years, they have revived the traditional craft of the Kotwara region in North India, the historical and cultural centre which inspired the location for Muzaffar Ali’s film Umrao Jaan and Meera Ali’s contemporary design and craft collaborations.

The event began dramatically with the sound of vibrant drumming echoing from the back of the runway. The models then began to emerge one by in beautiful garments whose flowing fabrics and textures filled the hall with a sense of tranquillity. From the traditional Lehnga the garments had a wide range of western forms from long coats to shorter jackets, dresses, skirts and trousers. The garments were gently quilted, subtly embroidered and delicately hand finished, giving each one a universal appeal and relevance to an international contemporary audience.

By using the sense of fine detailing, which has evolved in India over the centuries, the range extends from innovations in Indian and western forms using simple craft techniques of chikan, zardozi, tukdi and appliqué with hand detailing to create dramatic effects. The collection has thus acquired a style of its own which is both avant-garde and traditional and evokes an image which incorporates the detailing and innovation of modernity mixed with timeless and customary classical forms.

The models, a combination of Asian and British decent, created an interesting juxtaposition in the way in their approach to dominating the catwalk. The Indian models mimicked the choreography of a traditional dance, bringing a worldly performative element to the show, whilst the British girls, with their western editorial demeanour reminded the audience that these were high-end garments with a universal appeal and ones that can be worn and consumed by an international market.

Live music accompanied the show, with a group of native musicians sat cross-legged at the top of the runway. The space was transformed into a spiritual setting as the models succinctly twirled their flowing dresses down the catwalk to the sound of drumming and chanting and lit candles at the end of the run way. The drumming created a vivacious atmosphere and complemented the exciting garments inspired by the nature and music of Northern India. This combined with the repetitious and hypnotic choreography performed by the models enticed the audience into a ritualistic celebration of contemporary Indian fashion.

Clothes for Meera and Muzaffar Ali are graceful and eloquent. They carry an essence of nostalgia that is reminiscent of the present and of hopes for the future. Because of this their garments evoke value and are items of clothing that people cherish. For the designers, they see their work as sacred clothes that enclose the temple of the human form.

With the integration of fashion, music and dance this was no ordinary catwalk show and instead became more like a platform for a celebration of culture and diversity in the UK and India – a brilliant introduction to The Southbank Centre’s The Alchemy Festival 2011.

The Rite of Spring gets a 3D makeover

Just a quick reminder that this Saturday we welcome digital artist Klaus Obermaier, dancer Julia Mach and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Ilan Volkov, for what promises to be an incredible night of sight and sounds. With live 3D visuals, expect to experience Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring in a completely new way. Take a look at the video below for a sneak preview.

Book Tickets for Rites: Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring with live 3D visuals

Alchemy Bloggers – Go Go Go!!!

The Alchemy Festival began on Friday, with some fantastic music, dance, debate and fashion. Over the 11 days of the festival there’ll be a brilliant group of Alchemists seeing and blogging about Alchemy. They are writers, dancers, photographers and artists from around the UK, India & South Asia. So here they are!

Charlotte Emily is an artist and explorer who dabbles in performance, photography, writing and child-like doodles. She is particularly inspired by storytelling and moments in everyday life. iamcharlotteemily.tumblr.com 

Nathalia Mello is a Brazilian performance practitioner, living and working in the UK, London. She artist graduated in Theatre Direction by the Rio De Janeiro Federal University (2007) and master of Dance Theatre: The Body in Performance, graduated at Trinity Laban. Her current research explores territories marked by water and soil. ‘Abscene: A young female from the Tupinimos tribe from Water Which Hides Itself, says I do today’ is the performance of theatricality and politics of self-representing, being currently developed since May 2010. 

Krupa Vekaria is a 2^nd year LLB Law and German student at the University of Warwick. In her spare time she enjoys dancing, reading and undoubtedly shopping! Her favourite cuisine besides Indian is Mexican and one item she needs with her all the time is my iPOD!

Hannah Anderson-Ricketts began training at Lewisham College she is now a student at London Contemporary Dance School. Hannah has worked with Katie Pearson, Sean Graham Dance Theatre, Vocab Dance Company, Uchenna Dance Company and Arthur Pita. She is currently a member of Just Us Dance Theatre.

Sumitra Upham is an aspiring curator and writer who seeks to commission, develop and manage creative projects with a focus on exploring new sites of practice for curating within new media and performance. In doing so, she seeks to use her curatorial practice as a tool of communication to provoke and encourage current debate and engaging with new audiences. At present, she is undertaking her masters in Curating Contemporary Design in partnership with Kingston University and The Design Museum London, whilst freelancing as project assistant for Art on The Underground.

Puja Mistry is 18 years old and currently on a gap year before studying medicine at university next year. This is her first time blogging, and she hopes to explore interests outside of her studies. Puja’s main intersts are dance, Taekwondo photography.

Myrto Williams is an Illustrator based in London. After graduating from Camberwell in the summer of 2010, she is now working on participation projects with the British Museum and The October Gallery. She is also collaborating with poets and musicians.

www.myrto-williams.com

Camelia Muldermans is a London-based writer and creative facilitator, with a particular interest in informal education, poetry and responsible journalism. She is intent on promoting a positive image of youth in the media, giving young people a voice and raising their aspirations. Published work includes: The Big Issue, The Independent, Positive News, and Cent Magazine.

Aminah B is a London based creative having graduated in Architecture from the Bartlett school of Architecture, University College London. Aminah’s passion is landscape oil paintings, etchings, rotring pens, moleskines, photography and travel. Also further exploring and focusing on contemporary and traditional Islamic Art and Architecture which she hopes to do her masters in. In her spare time she helps charities working in developing countries designing prefabricated structures and local community housing.

 

Raghu Dixit, Leaving a mark.

Copyright 2011 © Yemisi Blake

Raghu Dixit and his band have started Alchemy 2011 on a great start. Raghu collaborated with Bellowhead and Gauri Sharma Tripathi and they all came up with many amazing songs on 15^th April at the Queen Elizabeth Hall which usually is packed.

Behind every song of Raghu’s there is story which applies to all humans. He bases his songs on inspirational and cultural lyrics, poems and tales. He sings his songs in three different languages which are Hindi, English and Kannada. Through his music and lyrics he portrays rhythmic and melodical images in the listeners mind which come from his home town Mysore.

Raghu and his band have left a mark on everyone’s mind who went to that evening performance. The concert was mysterious, mesmerizing and mystic.

Many people liked the performance because Raghu is a very interactive and humorous person.

Tarini Tripathi, Alchemist