Building partnerships through Indian music
One of the most gratifying outcomes of the CETL Indian Music Project (apart from seeing a new stream of music-making finding its place in the culture of a department), has been the links it has begun to build with South Asian Arts organisations in the region.
September 2007 saw one of our most fruitful collaborations to date. This was as part of the ‘SAMA 2007’ South Asian Festival, co-organised by GemArts, Kalapremi, and Pakistan Cultural Society, the main promoters of South Asian arts in the North East region. The CETL was glad both to host and to contribute to the SAMA symposium, held at Newcastle University, and including speakers from other organisations involved in promoting Indian music on the national scene, including Milap Fest, Sampad, and Asian Music Circuit). This was an invaluable occasion to disseminate the work of the CETL and to extend our networks.
At lunchtime, delegates were treated to a performance by ‘Just Jugalbandhi’, a collective of North and South Indian musicans, promoted by Kalapremi with support from the CETL. Earlier in the week, also as part of SAMA, we hosted a lunchtime recital by sitar virtuoso Pandit Budhaditya Mukherjee.
The collaborations continue. The CETL is currently supporting Kalapremi with a new venture called Indian Music Trail. This includes a series of Bhaitaks – informal gatherings – bringing together high-profile performers, audiences and students of Indian music from both the local community and the University. CETL students thus benefit from the opportunity to engage still more widely with practitioners of Indian musics. In February 2008, we support Pakistan Cultural Society in their promotion of jazz pianist Zoe Rahman; and plans are under way for contributions to the next SAMA festival in October 2008.
First Bhaitak Challenge