A trip in the world´s smallest train to summits...

This is a videoclip with improvised music recording from my art-post-kraut rock band [ Ghum ]. We shooted during a tipical Monsoon day at Toy Train, Darjeeling distric (West Bengal, India). We made a trip from Ghum to Darjeeling stations (8km).

Since 1999 the train has been a World Heritage Site as listed by UNESCO.

Info for travel organization and guide: Nimtenzi Sherpa (one of the best people i ever met) : nim10g@in.com

Toy Train history: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/darjeeling_himalayan_railway

Binaural recording from Sonada´s forest (Darjeeling, Himalayas), tea plantations and Santiniketan forest

  

Binaural recording from Santiniketan forest river, Kalimpong rainning (monsoon) and Neora Valley waterfall

 

Only from the heart / Can you touch the sky [ Rumi ]

Ihsan ( احسان ) is an Arabic term meaning beauty, "perfection" or "excellence. It is a matter of taking one's inner faith (Iman) and showing it in both deed and action in a sense of social responsibility.

We travel to Liverpool last 17 octuber 2010 to make the first performance of Ihsan, a live opera jam. An experimental fusion based in Sufism in a mixed media and interactive social art event, through analog and digital tools connected with Baul/Fakiris ancestral music from India and Bangladesh.

It was at Black-E an old church reconverted in exhibition arts place at city centre. This special event has been produced by Planet Art Exchange and it´s part of the Independents Biennale http://www.independentsbiennial.org/2010events/1329-iihsan

Ihsan is a 60 min. journey divided into 12 scenes and involves  Baul/Fakiri with electronic and experimental music, real time interactive sounds, music, live video dancing, lecture, acting and a tracked scenary.

  The show is a fusion of several forms of arts bringing together Baul/Fakiris and experimental music, light and video forms .

An interactive lecture on Sufism was given by Professor Ron Geaves from Hope University.

Presumably to prevent his audience from missing the beauty of the spectacle, on the occasion of the first stage performance of Shyama (and Opera-dance written in 1939 by him), Tagore wrote:

“Let me confess that the story is immaterial. I ask my audience not to distract their attention by searching for meaning which belongs to the alien kingdom of language but to keep their minds passive in order to be able to receive an immediate impression of the whole, to capture the spirit of art which reveals itself in the rhythm of movements, in the lyric of colour, form and sound and refuses to be denied or described by words.”

Lotus Blossom, from Voices and Water scenes. Use headphones for good listening. Imagine water sounds sourrounding in circles around audience through the quadrophonic system..

 

Profesor Geaves, Fakir Babu, Sus and Alan Lane

Borja Alexandre, Sus, Eduardo Calahorra, Arjun Khyapa, Mikel Zudaire and Diego de León.

Lotfi Kaabi, head of Planet Art eXchange and Ihsan producer.

 

Sardinia (Italy), a big and beautiful mediterranean island quite wilde yet.. full of green and blue beaches, Nuraghes [ built between the middle of the Bronze Age (18th-15th centuries BC) ] and pirate towers. 

 

Cagliari is the capital of Sardinia with about 400,000 inhabitants, an ancient city with a long history,  has seeing the occupation of several civilisations

Signal Festival was a a quality avanguard, electronic and experimental music and collateral languages event in its fith edition, located in San MIchelle Castle (Cagliari).

We performed our Audiovisual live based on sine waves.

Sonom´s instruments

 

"Milan hobe koto dine" means "when we will get united". Hd recording from "A cross border exchange" concert in the Auditorium Rabindranath Tagore, Kolkata (India) last 27 august, after four days of workshop with 20 Baul/Fakiri under the direction of Tanmoy Bose. Organized by Banglanatak. Produced under our artistic residence in India coordinated by PAX.

<p>Milan hobe koto dine from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user4630546">.</p>

It was the last theme from "A cross border exchange" concert. We call this song the Baul´s hit becouse Baul&Fakiris always love to sing and play it. It talks about brotherhood and that we are all one. Audio was poor quality because it was recorded by the microphone of the camera, because our Zoom recorder was working as sound card to our sound oberture.

 India has embraced us during our stay giving us a profound experience, full of magic, humanism and music in this artistic residence.
  

The sunset on the Ganges still resonates in our eyes ..

Kolkata is undoubtedly the most amazing and human place we have been.

Yesterday August 27 was our last day with the highlight of the performance "A cross border exchange" in the Auditorium Rabindranath Tagore, after four days of working with Bauls under the direction of Tanmoy Bose.

Jai Guru!

Shamick was our perfect guide inside Kolkata and Santiniketan.

 

Jai Guru!

Last moments before the big concert with Sus, Tanmoy Bose, Jano, a famous Kolkata pop singer, Amitava and a Pata Chira poet.

I played with Jano an experimental sound theme oppening the performance. Then Sus played visuals during the rest (3 goovy hours). The music from the 20 Bauls was fantastic, always.. but this must be lived..  We recorded in full hd video. Very soon a short edit will be posted.

Mostrar forma romanizada

Jai Guru (hellow Master) is the Baul/Fakiri´s usual salutation to everyone

Time in India has pass so quickly but by other side so many friends and beautiful people have made it seem a lifetime. This place has something magic in the air..

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 After a very long trip, we are back at Barcelona full of deep impressions and more than 300 gb of recordings...  also some instruments for playing and making audio experiments...

On a few days, having relaxed for so intense experience, we will post more things..

 

 

Kolkata is a mega city where contrasts and humanity arises everywhere. The most surprising is a collaborative and kind atmosphere full of smiles and gazes everywhere.

Workshop has been very intense and productive, a lot of learning from such amazing people as Baul / Fakiri. Amitava and Tanmoy Bose have lead it with a magnetic heart. The concept of the programm is to bring together two gropus of Bauls from Nadia (India) and from Bangladesh. The title "A cross border exchange" is the starting point for this project that approaches to Bengali folk music at both sides of the political border betwenn West-Bengal and Bangladesh.

It was a nice surprise to see on TV Tanmoy Bose and 9 of the workshop Bauls, playing and also talking about the project.

Brotherhood as the way of live, with such a big passion.... even very old Bauls have a high vibration that empathize all people around them.

This picture is from full moon time, when a brotherhood ceremony was made between all of us

We are composing videos and music with all recordings made here to play tomorrow in the final concert with the 20 Bauls at Rabindranath Tagore´s auditorium.

We are hard working on Baul traditional music with electronic music and video integration. Here a couple of pictures from today´s workshop.

Sasti das Baul playing electronic Ektara to computer.

Yesterady we spent the whole day learning and playing Baul-Fakiri instruments with master Debasish. We have bought to him some instruments we have "electronized" with contact microphones directed to Ableton Live, creating nice sounds and drones. This is a picture of his instrument room. He is one of the best instrument builders in West Bengal.

Today started the Baul / Fakiri Workshop at Kolkatta Arts & crafts museum with 15 Bauls from different places.

Workshop program is designed by Tanmoy Bose (right side), the famous Tabla player who use to play with Ravi Shankar.

A picture of a Patachira painting.

This is a Bangladesh Dotara, which produces amazing sounds, very close to Sitar armonics.

One of the most difficult instruments to play, the Kamak

And the powerful drum Dhol

Here a picture from electronic Ektara.

Tomorrow we will start the workshop which will finish in a fusion live with Bauls at Rabindranath Tagore auditorium.