There is another exciting ensemble project brewing! For the last few weeks I have been making the (at times nightmarishly congested!) car journey to Southall for rehearsals with the new Kuljit Bhamra Ensemble. It has been hugely inspiring so far, as we have been composing and developing the first items of our repertoire. The line up is Kuljit Bhamra (tabla), Shahid Khan (voice), Jordan Black (clarinet), Joe Richards (marimba / percussion) and myself on harp. Needless to say, we are discovering new and exciting sounds!
One of the key ideas behind this new ensemble is an alternative exploration of Indian classical music. In the instrumentation alone we already have a fusion of the ‘Western’ with the ‘Eastern’, and we are striving to explore a broad range of musical interactions (including similarities!) between these two cultures. There is completely new music, music inspired by particular Indian idioms (an obvious one being the raga, or ‘scale’), and arrangements of well-known pieces.
As an avid lover of both diverse traditional musics from across the globe and of innovative musical fusion, this project is a dream come true.
Our launch party (and first gig!) is on 15th October 2014, as part of Zer0classikal’s new Autumn series (see events for full details). Hope to see you there!
http://www.kuljitbhamra.com/flash.html
http://zeroclassikal.org.uk/
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