DAY 1: 13THFEBRUARY, 2016
STAGE 1: Afternoon
(Timings: 2:00pm – 5:00pm)
Instrumental trio
AleksandarSimic, SaskiaRao - de Haas &ShubhendraRao
SERBIA, NETHERLAND & INDIA
Collaborating for the first time
AleksandarSimic
He is established a reputation as one of the leading classical composers of his generation. The Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called him the Ambassador of Peace, while talking about his music in Doha in the year 2011.
His music has also been used to mark numerous other official events, such as the UN General Assembly Sessions, Bicentennial of the Serbian state, the Tricentennial of St. Petersburg, or the Ecumenical gatherings of the Eastern Orthodox Patriarchs.
Here is a short list with some of Aleksandars more acclaimed works:
• Under One Roof (An Anthropological Journey for the Symphony Orchestra): Commissioned by the United Nations in 2011, celebrating the goals and ideas of the UN Alliance of Civilizations Initiative
• Zodiac - 12 Character Pieces for Piano & Orchestra: Sponsored by NASA and the US State Department, with a set of remarkable video installations made from the materials captured by Hubble ST and Voyager ISM, that have been especially designed to follow the music and visually enhance the
• MissaSolemnior: Marking the Year of Reconciliation following 950 years of the Great Schism between eastern and western Christianity - a Vatican commission
• Zhukov - A Portrait: Commissioned by the Russian Federation to mark the 50th anniversary of victory in WWII. Live experience of the cycle’s performances.
SaskiaRao - de Haas
SaskiaRao - de Haas is a brilliant cellist and composer from the Netherlands. She has introduced her innovative new instrument, the Indian cello, to North Indian classical music and created a unique playing style to perform Indian music on the cello. Saskia, although born in Holland, performs at the most prominent Music Festivals and Concert halls the world over as a virtuoso of Indian Classical music.
Saskia has created music for different music productions, dance, film and theatre. She is the founder of the Raga Mala String Quartet and co-founder of East Maries West with ShubhendraRao. Her varied experiences include collaborations with artists of South Indian music, Jazz, Indian film music, Western classical, Klezmer, Flamenco and contemporary. Saskia has recorded with International record labels and has recently recorded her new album.
PanditShubhendraRao
He is a composer and sitar soloist, a protégé of world renowned Sitar maestro, Pandit Ravi Shankar, he has established himself not only as a master of his instrument but also as a thinking musician, constantly endeavoring to carry his instrument beyond conventional boundaries.
Shubhendraji has performed at major music festivals and concert halls like Broadway and Carnegie Hall in New York, WOMAD festival in Guernsey, UK, Sydney Opera House in Australia, National Arts Festival in South Africa, Theatre de le Ville in Paris, Edinburgh festival and Doverlane Music Conference in India.
Fado
Carminho
PORTUGAL
Her "Fado" became one of the most acclaimed albums in 2009. It went Platinum – an enviable outcome for a debut album. With "Fado", Portugal surrendered to Carminho’s voice and the doors of the world opened to her talent. It was considered best album 2011 by Songlines magazine, she had shows in European capital cities, in Womex 2011 (Copenhagen) and in the UNESCO headquarters, in Paris, within the scope of Fado as World Heritage candidate. Then came the invitation to participate in Pablo Alborán’s album, which became a phenomenon of popularity in both Portugal and Spain.
Fusion of Sufi & French music
Mathias Duplessy&Mukhtiyar Ali
FRANCE& INDIA
Mathias Duplessy
Difficult to label him, he plays dozens of instruments and loves the strings. Mathias Duplessy belongs to the generation of musicians who do not like borders; and approaches world music without any complex. From a song to a solo guitar suite or strings adagio, his music conveys the big spaces and the time passing.
Between flamenco, oriental, classical music or gypsy jazz, his style is unique and full of energy. Joyful, generous, Mathias has a lot of projects following his music encounters and composes music for films in France, Morocco and India (Peepli Live, Finding Fanny)
Mir Mukhtiyar Ali
He comes from the semi-nomadic community called Mirasi from the Thardesert. He lives in Pugal, in a village at the border with Pakistan and Rajasthan. He belongs to the 26th generation of this community which has successfully kept alive the oral tradition SufianaQalam.
Mukhtiyar Ali has a voice which can only be experienced. He has preserved the ideology of Sufiana music which impels divine communion with an ecstasy created in total detachment. He pervades this very essence of SufianaQalam with his involvement not just in the music but also in its poetry.
Today, while singing Sufi poetry all over the country with his original compositions, hes also regularly called in Bombay to work on film background scores and touring abroad with his JeenaJeena team.
Mukhtiyar Ali & Mathias Duplessy -From Asian deserts to Andalusia
Collaborations between the east and west such as Zakir and McLaughlin, Ravi Shankar and Yehudi Menuhin, have resulted in some of the finest music over the decades. Mathias Duplessy from France started working with the Sufi Indian singer Mir Mukhtiyar Ali six years ago and soon realized they had a common language in music. They evolved a style of their own, which was inspired by Rajasthani folk, flamenco, blues, reggae, African, Japanese and Mongolian music. In 2011, they recorded an album in Paris called “JeenaJeena” and are performing since with the great sarangi player Sabir Khan as special guest.
STAGE 2:Evening
(Timings: 6:00pm – 10:00pm)
Instrumental music & dance performance
Flamenco music and dance
SPAIN
African beat music
DobetGnahoré
IVORY COAST
Native from Ivory Coast DobetGnahoré was initiated to the various musical traditions and richness of her country and more widely of the african continent, in the famous Ki Yi Mbock Theater and dance company in Abidjan. Since 2003 DobetGnahoré has released 4 albums, and has received a Grammy Award in 2010, together with the american singer India Arie. She is touring extensively all over the world. She was appointed Honorary Ambassador for Human Rights by the ivorian government.
Fusion Rock Band
The Raghu Dixit Project
INDIA
Raghu Dixit’s unique brand of infectious, happy music transcends age, genre, and even language. His music is strongly rooted in Indian traditions and culture and is presented with a very contemporary, global sound. From playing to over 100,000 people in his home state to every big music festival in India, from Glastonbury, to the BBC to even playing for the Queen of England and the entire Royal Family, Raghu Dixit seems to have done quite a bit!
It took 12 years for Raghu to get his music out and his first album immediately signaled the arrival of a tremendous force in the Indian indie scene. Today, he is the unquestionable No. 1 live indie act in the country.
In the six years since the release of his eponymous debut album, Raghu Dixit has come to be seen as an ambassador for Indian music and his career highlights including having performed for the Queen of England at the Diamond Jubilee Celebrations in Windsor, conquering the UK, hitting the no. 1 spot on the iTunes World Music Charts no less than 7 times, performing at the world’s largest festival Glastonbury, and featuring on popular TV shows like Later with … Jools Holland, The Dewarists and Coke Studio.
DAY 2: 14THFEBRUARY, 2016
STAGE 1: Afternoon
(Timings: 2:00pm – 5:00pm)
Fusion of Sufi& Gospel music
SonamKalra&The Sufi Gospel Project
INDIA
SonamKalra is that rare breed of singer who has been trained in both Indian and Western music traditions and is equally adept at both. She has a rich, powerful, yet sensitive voice that touches the soul, with an ability to blend styles, yet stay true to the music.
Over the last 2 years Sonam has been researching the music and texts of different religions and has devised a musical genre called ‘The Sufi Gospel Project’. The Sufi Gospel Project is an effort to blend all the voices of faith, through the use of song, music and the spoken word. Traditional western gospel melds with Indian classical sounds, and Indian spiritual texts are enriched by elements of western poetry to create a sound that touches every soul. Khusrau blends with Amazing Grace, Kabir shares the stage with Abide with Me and Bulleh Shah’s voice is heard amidst English and Gaelic texts. Revealing that no matter what the language of the lyrics, or the ethnicity of the sounds, there is but one language, the language of faith. And that is the universal truth. The music of The Sufi Gospel Project carries with it a message of freedom from boundaries, walls, religion and labels. It is music of acceptance of all humanity and secularism.
Sonam has shared the stage with legendary musicians like AbidaParveen and performed at Prestigious Music Festivals all over the world and for renowned musician Sting. In January, 2013 the Mail Today newspaper listed Sonam as one of “the 50 creative powerhouses & impresarios who have elevated Delhi from a cultural desert to one of the world’s leading arts capitals”. Elle magazine profiled Sonam in a list of “Transformers : Women Who Own the Future”.
Instrumental
Spanish Guitarist
SPAIN
Jazz Fusion
Italy Meets India
INDIA & ITALY
"ITALY MEETS INDIA" is an Italian project, born to promote themeeting between Italian and Indian art.It started by the idea of saxophone player Marcello Allulli, from Rome, with the drummer MatteoFraboni, from Senigallia.
On September 2015, they have been performed in New Delhi, Gurgaon and Pushkar, also collaborating with Italian Institute of Culture with promotion of Italian JAZZIT Magazine. During this tour, Allulli and Fraboni have met many Indian traditional and modern musicians, playing in duo, trio or 5tet in clubs and special events, doing also workshops and jam sessions.
STAGE 2: Evening
(Timings: 6:00pm – 10:00pm)
Moroccan Saharian Soul
Oum
MOROCCO
Oum is the first word of moroccan first name Oum El Ghaït, which means » Mother of relief « , and that used to be given to baby girls born in the desert in a rainy day or night. Oum wears well her name; her music generously brings in its flow feelings, dreams, and stories inspired by her own vision of the world.
Her singular voice, at the same time soft and powerful succeeds in combining the elements of her original culture, and those of a universal musical heritage whom she investigates. Singer, writer and composer, Oum begins by singing an eclectic soul in her first album LikOum which mixes pop, hip-hop and rhythm and blues, before moving on three years later, with Sweerty, a thirteen tracks in which she asserts her talent of melody maker inspired of new soul, and jazz, and her ease as bilingual lyric writer because she writes her songs in darija (moroccan dialect) and in English. Playing with words between poetry and metaphor, she sings about love, hope, freedom, men and women..about life. Humble and humanist, she looks through the writing to bring a message of love.
Having conquered the heart of Moroccans, and seduced by her presence the audience of several stages in Europe and the Arab world, Oum gets ready to enchant the international musical sphere with « Soul of Morocco ». This project arose from her desire to reveal the wealth and the cultural diversity of Morocco while conjugating it to the rhythms and to the sounds of other musics of the world. A dozen pieces played by a quartet double bass, percussions, guitar and flute / saxophone, with - on some songs - a line of Oud as well as the participation of renowned musicians such as Jean-Luc ObomanFillon, Alain Debiossat ( Sixun) and KarimZiad.
Afro Beat Venezuelan Cumbia
Family Atlantica
VENEZUELA & GHANA
At the heart of Family Atlantica are three people from three different continents: London born Jack Yglesias, band leader, producer, arranger, multi-instrumentalist and instrument builder. A veteran of The Heliocentrics and live Quantic bands. His wife LuzmiraZerpa, traditional Venezuelan musician, poet and singer with a magical voice acclaimed by MANU CHAO, and half Nigerian-half Ghanaian Kwame Natural Power Crentsil, percussionist, backing vocal, arranger. Kwame was one of Fela musical cast at londons National Theatre and has played Edinburgh Fringe musical with Paco Pena. His father was one of the first Ghanaians to play with FelaAnikulapo-kuti, Sonny Okosun and spent 32 years at the Centre for cultural studies at the University of Lagos, where he retired from as Senior Cultural Director.
The album includes collaborations with Ethiopian legend MULATU ASTATKE, Senegalese gnawa master NURU KANE, and Havanas finest rumba collective YORUBA ANDABO.
In 2008, Luzmira traveled to the Sahara Desert in the south of Algeria to participate in the Fi-sahara Festival. While there she performed with MANU CHAO who introduced her to the audience as "the most beautiful voice to arrive in the desert."
Rock Fusion Band
Papon and the East India Company
INDIA
Papon and The East India Company is an electric folk-fusion band from New Delhi, formed in 2007. The band, now based out of Mumbai, comprises of Papon (vocals, guitars), Brin (live electronica), Jeenti (guitars), Kirti (World percussions), Aakash (bass), Tanmay (drums) and Birinchi (keys). The band has performed at major festivals like Oktoberfest in Bangalore, NH7 Weekender, SAARC Music Festival in New Delhi, Eastwind Festival, MAD Fest Ooty, Windsong, Goa, Storm Fest etc. and has performed overseas with Sutasi in Singapore. The outfit also recently performed at the Dubai World Music festival. Today, the band is a much appreciated live act throughout the gig circuit in the country.
Papon is a singer, composer, producer and a multi-instrumentalist. Born to the very popular music duo and legends of Assamese music, ArchanaMahanta and KhagenMahanta, he was introduced to music early on in his childhood. Papon’s initial training was in Indian Classical and folk music from Assam. Now his music covers genres like ambient electronica, acoustic folk and new age Indian Classical. Papon released his debut album, The Story So Far (Times Music) in 2012, which won a GIMA award. He also has six Assamese albums to his name. Papon has been featured on two seasons of Coke Studio India and has produced one full episode of the third season, composing six songs. Apart from that, Papon has performed with the MidivalPunditz and Karsh Kale at various festivals around the world including the Paléo Music Festival in Switzerland, Jakarta International Java Jazz Festival in Jakarta, Mosaic Music Festival in Singapore and Oslo World Music Festival in Norway. He has collaborated with the Welling Jazz Band, in Wellington, New Zealand, for a project playing some of his music during Crossings festival held in Wellington in 2007. Also in the project was Rihan Sheehan, a popular electronic artist and producer from Wellington. He collaborated with Karsh Kale and SushmitSen on their respective projects, Cinema and Depths of the Ocean. Papon has been featured in the soundtracks of Bollywood films such as Barfi!, Soundtrack, Dum Maro Dum, Madras Café, Satyagrah, among others. He also featured on the TheDewarists along with Rabbi Shergill along with composing the theme song for MTV Roadies Season 10. Papon, both as a solo artist and with his band, is fast scaling ranks within the Indian music community.
