It has been a while since I have blogged. The summer was very exciting as I was in San Francisco learning from the God of tabla Ustad Zakir Hussain. Whilst in San Francisco I collaborated and performed with well known Persian musicians ‘The Dehghani Brothers’, percussionist Tobias Roberson and spoken word artists Fariba Bogzaran and Kim Rosen in a performance called ‘Night of Rhythm and Poetry’ hosted by the Lucid Art Foundation. I was also invited to be a guest speaker at the Cultural Integration Fellowship to discuss Indian music and wellbeing. Since coming back to the UK, it has been nonstop with other exciting projects coming up.
We are fast approaching the Melodies on the Brink production and there have been a lot of developments. Rehearsals have gone really well and the show is taking shape. As part of this project we have been truly blessed to have the expertise and experience of renowned kathak dancer Sonia Sabri Ji. She is acting as choreographic mentor for the project. Our first session with her a few weeks ago was highly insightful. Not only did the dancers benefit but the musicians as well. We cannot wait to see her again.
The dancers Kesha Raithatha and Marius IR Mates have literally thrown themselves into this project with their vast repertoire of dancing styles. It was exciting to see them dance to our compositions and interpret the music. I have never worked with Marius, but he has been a revelation and is going to dazzle the audience with his hip/break dance style. Kesha has recently come back from India where she was busy performing. All her experiences are also adding a different element to the project, as Kesha will be incorporating body rhythm and contact improvisation within a few of the pieces.
For the musicians, it has been great having the opportunity to try out performance material at the lunchtime soundbites courtesy of Embrace Arts, Leicester. It has allowed a greater chemistry between the musicians as well as giving us the freedom to express. The last part of this project is going to be intense but the momentum is going in the right direction.
Until next time. 🙂
Tickets are still available for the show.
https://uk.patronbase.com/_EmbraceArts/Productions/XO29/Performances
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