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.