It's 10 am, we got up in Mumbai after a night celebrating our great (I'm simply objective) concert at the NCPA. Jehangir and his wife Binaifer, our hosts in Pune, are waiting for us in the lobby of the Taj Mahal palace. We are a bit (!) late. It's weird, we are just 6 musicians of MCO and it seems that we are heavier to move than when we are 60! So, with a bit of delay, we leave Mumbai for Pune. We do this travel by car, and honestly I can't say much about it: I sleep. We stop. I sleep. We slow down: I open one eye: a lot of monkeys outside the window... looking at us and eating cookies. I decide to sleep again.
At 5, after an afternoon of shopping at Fabindia (I got beautiful curtains for my flat, and Anna got 1000 pairs of trousers), we go to the concert hall of the Poona Music Society for a short balance rehearsal. And at 7 we start the concert. The hall is full and the audience very attentive. After the concert, we again receive a beautiful garland made of jasmine flowers. What a nice tradition! We have dinner all together after the concert. All the group is leaving very very early the next morning, so it's an early night for everyone. On my side I will travel alone to Paris, with a flight in the late afternoon.
Thursday, 26.01.2012 I've been abandoned by my MCO colleagues, but I got adopted by new friends Jehangir and Binaifer! They pick me up at the hotel in the morning, and they take me around Pune. We start with a bit of shopping, and we go to visit a Hindu temple. After that we have been invited for lunch by a French lady, who is also called Delphine. And as the time is going too quick, it's time for me to go to the airport. Pune-Delhi and Delhi-Paris. Goodbye India!
Coming to India was an amazing experience for me. I hope to come back very very soon, and see again all the amazing people I met there. Schubert, Elvina, Luis, Rui, Jehangir, Binaifer... Thanks so much! Delphine Tissot, Viola
Mumbai Tuesday, 24.01.2012 Eine kleine Zeitreise durch ein indisches Märchen (read below for the English version)
Auf dem einstündigen Weg zum Ramnarain Ruia College, wo wir am Morgen ein Konzert für Studierende gaben, schaute ich staunend auf das Chaos aus unserem Taxi hinaus. Alleine die Autofahrt ist schon ein Erlebnis. Es scheint keine Regeln zu geben, doch jeder weiß darum und ist umso aufmerksamer. Jedes Hindurchschlängeln zwischen einer Riksha zur einen Seite und einem Motorradfahrer zu anderen wird einfach per Hupen angekündigt. Es ist erstaunlich wie unfassbar entspannt alle Rennteilnehmer sind, da könnte man sich als Deutscher ein wenig von inspirieren lassen. Angekommen in der Universität empfing uns ein kleines Komitee mit einer Zeremonie, die uns vor dem Teufel bewahren sollte. Mit Blütenblättern im Haar und einem roten Anyashakra fühlte ich mich sicherer denn je für ein Konzert.
Das Auditorium bietet Platz für 300 Zuhörer, der auch restlos von den Studierenden im Alter von ungefähr 16-20 Jahren genutzt wurde. Mir macht es immer wieder Spaß für junge Leute zu spielen, ganz egal wieviel sie über Klassische Musik wissen. An diesem Morgen schien es für viele das erste Mal zu sein, eine Geige und Bratsche live zu hören. Es war berührend mit welcher Neugier und Aufmerksamkeit das junge Publikum auf unser Konzert reagierte. Zum Schluss wünschte sich eine Studentin ein Western Folksong. Henja rettete uns und zauberte spontan eine türkische Volksweise aufs Parkett! Das Publikum liebte es. Nochmals Danke Henja! Viele der jungen Zuhörer kamen danach hinter die Bühne und hörten gar nicht auf, Fragen zu unserer Musik zu stellen. Einfach schön!
Ich war nie ein Fan von Tchaitee. Doch den Tchaitee, den wir als kleine Erfrischung nach dem Konzert angeboten bekamen war fantastisch! Mit schönen Eindrücken fuhren wir zurück zum Hotel, um dann kurz darauf schon wieder auf der Bühne für den Soundcheck des Konzertes am Abend zu stehen. Der Saal klang gut bei den ersten paar Tönen, die wir spielten und ließ unsere Vorfreude auf den Abend noch größer werden.
Trotz großer Müdigkeit von den letzten Tagen ging ich mit einem guten Gefühl raus auf die Bühne und konnte es einfach genießen. Als Zugabe für ein dankbares Publikum spielten wir eine bekannte Melodie aus Goa, die ein Komponist für unsere Besetzung arrangierte. Nach überreichen wunderschöner Blumenketten an die Musiker gab es zum Abschluß ein großen Empfang unter freiem Himmel mit unendlich vielen verschiedenen indischen Speisen.
Dieser Tag schien mir wie eine kleine Zeitreise durch ein indisches Märchen. Bei welchem der tausend Götter ich mich nun bedanken muss, ist mir nicht klar, dafür aber bei allen, die dabei waren. Danke!
A traveling in time through an Indian fairytale
During the one hour drive to Ramnarain Ruia College, where we played a concert for students in the morning, I watched the chaos outside of our taxi window with amazement. Riding in a car is an experience in itself here. It seems there are no rules on the roads, but since everyone knows it they are all the more attentive. Each weaving maneuver between a rickshaw on the one side and a motorbike on the other is announced with a beep of the horn. It is amazing how absolutely relaxed all of the participants are in this race; as a German one could take some inspiration from it.
Upon arrival at the college, we were welcomed by a small committee with a ceremony to protect us from evil. With flower petals in my hair and a red ajna chakra, I felt more secure than ever going into a concert.
The auditorium offered space for 300 listeners, and was filled to the last seat by students roughly between the ages of 16 and 20. I always enjoy playing for young people, regardless of how much they know about classical music. On this morning it seemed to be for many the first time that they heard a violin or a viola live. It was inspiring to see them react to our peformance with such curiousity and attentiveness.
At the end, one student asked for a western folksong. Henja saved us and magically conjured a Turkish folk melody out of her violin. The audience loved it. Thanks again Henja!! Many of the young audience members came backstage afterwards and asked question after question about our music. It was just wonderful!
I have never been a fan of chai tee. But the chai that we received as a refreshment after the concert was fantastic! We rode back to the hotel with memorable impressions, and shortly thereafter found ourselves onstage again (this time at the Tata Theatre in the National Centre for Performing Arts) for the sound check for our concert that evening. The hall sounded good right from the first notes we played, and we began looking forward to the evening even more.
Despite great tiredness from the busy days before, I went onstage feeling good and was able to enjoy the concert. As an encore for an appreciative audience we played a melody from Goa that had been arranged for our ensemble by a composer. After beautiful flower garlands were presented to the musicians, to close the day there was a large reception in the NCPA garden with an endless variety of different Indian dishes.
The day seemed to me like traveling in time through an Indian fairytale. Which of the gods I should now thank for it is not clear to me, so I'll just give my thanks to everyone who was there. Thank you! Christian Heubes, 2nd Violin
The day we had today was so full of exciting moments that, honestly, it's hard to describe everything we experienced but I'll give it a try... Ok, we got up in Goa having no idea what we would find in Mumbai. We heard from many new friends in Goa that Mumbai would be a completely different picture of India, but how can one imagine what that means when you have never been there? So, we got to the airport in Mumbai and, after eating some snacks right there we headed to the city to meet Joe, the hero of Indian kids and from today mine too, who had prepared some workshops with two different groups of children from an inner city district.
As we got closer to the city we started realising what kind of a new city we were about to experience, especially when we approached the redlight district we felt as if we were entering a deep hole where you can't see the end at all but also not the beginning anymore... strange combination of emotions and still in the bus! So, the bus driver told us that taking pictures in that district wouldn't be a good idea so we all sat next to the window in the bus and stayed silent, looking through the windows and not believing what our eyes where seeing: streets full of action, people lying down, talking, moving trash around, cows, goats, chickens, lambs walking around like any human being... muslims, hindus, lots of different colours, old buildings partly destroyed, others totally destroyed; old cars, motorbikes, rickshaws, horse-cars, bikes... anything you can imagine used as a transport system creating such a chaos on the street it's difficult to describe, people crossing in the middle of a huge traffic jam, left and right, carrying stuff, moving around and all this accompanied by the official soundtrack of India, cars honking non stop... and the best of it is that we were the biggest attraction in the street!
Everyone, and I really mean it, everyone was looking deeply into our eyes not believing who we were and what on earth were we doing there; people saying hi to us with their hands, others just paralyzed to see us there, others talking to each other trying to guess why were we there, children walking next to our bus showing curiosity and shyness at the same time... real deep eye contact communication!
So, we finally got to the place where we were supposed to meet Joe and we went down from the bus feeling completely overwhelmed by the scenario and this feeling only increased as we walked down all together with our instruments in our hands, friends, very difficult to describe... when we got to the building where we were doing our first workshop we were still in shock and suddenly we met our first audience in Mumbai: around 20 kids in between 3 and 5 years old living in families with difficult situations, who during the evening go out of their houses to avoid being around the dramatic situation of their parents and being protected from that life by spending the night all together, trying to be what they should, just kids full of innocence and joy with sparkling eyes, full of hope for a better future for them than the one their parents have to face. The kids were really looking forward to meeting us, they never saw or heard western instruments before and they were really excited about it.
Already unpacking the instruments and just playing some notes we could see on their eyes that they were entering a new dimension full of different sounds and emotions that they've never experienced before and when Christian, Henja and Delphine started playing for them the Scherzo of the Dvorák Terzetto they were already on a different planet... what a moment! I sat down with them, listening to my colleagues playing, with my viola in my hands and as soon as the music stopped they all wanted to come closer to me and look at that strange piece of wood that they've never seen before, so I took my viola as a guitar and played some chords for them and they all got crazy wanting to touch the instrument and copying the pizzicatos I just played before, so suddenly there were lots of little Indian innocent hands on my viola wanting to feel the instrument, experience the sound by themselves and the joy of music! What a moment...
So, Joe had prepared an arrangement of one Indian song called "Re Mama Re" that they all identified from the very beginning as soon as we started playing it and they soon joined us singing the lyrics and copying some choreography that Joe was showing them. Luckily our also new friend Holger, the photographer on this tour, was there and took thousands of pictures of the kids, because to describe the joy and the excitement in their eyes is a hard job. So, we played the piece a few times and then they wanted to offer us a song that with the help of an Indian collaborator they sang very successfully and so they felt they could give us a little concert in return... amazing kids! We sadly had to leave them, because another group of kids with the same background were waiting for us, but we all left heartbroken and very meditative about what we had just experienced.
So, we walked again in the street and soon arrived at another centre with the same philosophy as the first one, a place to protect and take care of kids, in this case from around 8 to 14 years old, more or less. These kids could speak English with hardly any problem so we soon started talking to them, answering all the questions they were wondering about us, our instruments... there were lots of kids waiting for us but unfortunately we couldn't make the workshop with all of them together so we went to one room with around 20 kids that sat down and, as their attention and concentration was on the highest imaginable level, we immediately played for them the Andantino of the 3rd movement of the Brahms' Clarinet Quintet. Again, the expression on their faces was unbelievable!
Joe had prepared a different workshop according to their ages and he asked them to imagine that they were in the Alps looking at the nature, contemplating the beauty of it, and the kids, even though they never left their district, made a huge effort to imagine what that could feel like. Then we played an Indian piece that they knew very well based on "Call & Response" and Joe divided the group into two asking each of them to imagine that each group was on the top of a different mountain in the Alps facing each other and establishing a communication in between them. The exercise worked so quickly fantastically that Joe had to improvise some ideas during the workshop so we continued creating communication but this time with choreography included. The kids were outside of themselves, laughing and jumping from joy together with Joe and us, amazing! As we felt that they weren't tired of us and their attention was still very high we decided to play some more excerpts of the Brahms' Clarinet Quintet for them.
Can you imagine what it can mean for these kids to hear to this masterpiece live? It's still hard for me to try to guess... Sadly, we arrived to the end of the workshop and again we had to leave the kids behind and finally go to our hotel after an incredible day full of new experiences. We are staying in an amazing hotel in Mumbai, the Taj Mahal, located in front of the Gate of India but honestly, after the day we had with these fantastic kids in a poor district in Mumbai and the biggest prostitution district in Asia, who cares in which hotel we are? At least I don't. The contrast is too big, the differences in this country are too big. I feel very comfortable sitting on the couch of my hotel room writing this tour diary but I can't forget about the most important, the kids of today, the ones that can try to change the reality, the ones we have to specially support so that they can face the difficult future that they will have and, really, they need all our support because life won't be easy for them. Music creates bridges in between people from all over the world, music provokes uncontrolled feelings and emotions, educates the sensitivity of human beings and establishes a communicative dialogue between them, what a great tool we have in our hands!
Thanks Joe for creating this dialogue in between us and the kids, without you it would have been way more difficult but today, and thanks to you, we know what we can do with music and you opened to us a new world of emotions. You know, while we were still in Goa, I was walking back to the hotel with maggiecoe and I asked her, what does "overwhelming" mean exactly? Today i felt it. Anna Puig Torné, Viola
Mumbai Monday, 23.01.2012 The collaboration between Songbound and the MCO
The collaboration between Songbound and the MCO has been the most wonderful coming together of ideas I've ever experienced in my entire musical career. Having already met some of the orchestra in Dortmund when introducing to them my film "The Sound of Mumbai" last year and spending several days in Goa before Bombay I was confident that the players' warmth would win through. I certainly needed this to rely on since my last workshop-leading experiences were years ago, and generally only with English speaking brass students in London.
Animateur extraordinaire and friend Hannah Conway had helped me to re-find my confidence before leaving for India but I had no idea how well the Songbound choirs would sing. I set the charity up in July but the children only began rehearsals one month before and only had one song part-learned. My arranging skills were also under inspection as I struggled to complete clarinet quintet versions of two Indian songs.
However, as soon as the MCO musicians walked into the first centre it became clear that we would have to worry more about the session going on too long than about how to fill it. Their instruments and personalties merged to create amazing musical beings that the children fell in love with immediately. These "strange" instruments were absorbed with wonder as the children heard them being played alone.
Following these solo demonstrations of each instrument the musicians played various movements of their tour programme including Dvorák's Terzett, Brahms' Clarinet Quintet and Mozart's String Quintet in G minor. With a little bit of poetic license but fairly accurate aural imagery I drew links to their more familiar musical worlds by introducing the arrangement of the song they had learned. The response was immediate and they joined in without being asked. With a bit of further improvised workshopping the sessions were well rounded and incredibly fun.
Songbound is totally new and I'm indebted to the MCO for having the confidence to team up with me for this trip to India. Songbound grew out of a continued concern that as a western classical musician there was nothing in place to give professionally to the thousands of poor children you see in India every day. We all hope that something might be in place at concert halls worldwide whereby the poor can sit alongside the rich to enjoy the world's most celebrated musicians, but I know that even at home that's very rarely the case.
This collaboration has proven that with the growing number of Songbound children's choirs throughout India's slum communities, visiting and local musicians of every kind can successfully and effectively play to make a difference. And with healthy longterm partnerships such as that between Songbound and the MCO, the ongoing choir rehearsals turn into exciting steps toward an event these children would never have dreamed of. And should anybody have any concerns about some kind of cultural colonialism when playing western classical musical to these children, rest assured that we've hardly had an audience more attentive than these children in any concert hall in the world! Joseph Walters, Founder of Songbound, Leader of childrens' workshop in Mumbai
Panaji Sunday, 22.01.2012 The first concert in India!
It's so special to play here - so that in the concert I'm not as exhausted as I would normally be after so many rehearsals, so many impressions and the jetlag. However, the sun and the warmth - particularly also the warmth of the people welcoming us in Panaji/Goa -, the wonderful encounters we've had, the enthusiasm for the music we play, last but not least also the delicious food - all this creates the best-ever mood and inspiration for playing a concert. In addition, we are playing some of my favourite pieces: first Dvorák's Terzetto, then Mozart's g minor string quintet and after the interval the clarinet quintet by Brahms. What a programme!
The audience seems to love this music as well. Of course, they also love our encore, for it is a nice Goan song called "O Rosa", arranged for all the six of us by two charming composers and teachers of the Kala Academy, called Roque Lazarus and Rui Lobo. We play it with huge flower neckleces hanging down from our necks; every artist performing in the festival at the Kala Academy is honoured with this fragrant accessorie after the concert.
The Kala Academy is where we have spent most of the past three days. We have had hardly any time to explore the city because we needed all the time for our rehearsals, but we did go out for extremely good dinners. After tonight's concert, we are again generously invited by the Academy. This time we go to a place right at the water, and the food is again fantastic. We are seated in a mixed order, i.e. each of us sits between two Indian persons - a nice idea! In the course of the evening, I get to talk to several very interesting, open-minded and warm-hearted people who have one thing in common: their love for music. It's very impressive to hear how they are trying to establish more qualified and commonly attainable musical education in Goa. As we have seen in the Kala Academy, they have already achieved a lot.
I really hope to come back here; I love Goa and the Goans and would have loved to stay here for longer! At the same time I can't wait to go to Mumbai because, as the Goans have told me, there we are going to experience another fascinating place, and a most exciting one… Henja Semmler, 1st Violin
Panaji Saturday, 21.01.2012 Deuxième jour de la tournée
Nous sommes toujours à Goa, en pleine préparation des concerts que nous donnerons tout au long de cette tournée MCO India Édition. Nous sommes très chaleureusement accueillis par les responsables de la Kala Academy, complètement dévoués à la musique classique! Cela peut paraître surprenant, dans un pays ayant une culture locale si forte et si riche. Cette Inde, située à peu près à l'autre bout du globe pour nous européens, comporte en vérité un nombre important d'afficionados de notre musique classique occidentale. C'est bien ici, en Inde, que certains, à la profession pourtant bien établie, ont tout lâché pour se consacrer au développement de cet art qu'ils chérissent tant, à sa diffusion ainsi qu'à sa transmission.
C'est ainsi que notre présence très attendue ici à la Kala Academy nous amène à nous impliquer réellement, bien sûr en y donnant le premier concert de la tournée, mais aussi en prenant part au concert du Goa State Symphony Orchestra au sein de leurs pupitres, et en transmettant notre savoir à de jeunes passionnés.
Je suis donc amené à donner une master class à ... 5 jeunes clarinettistes en herbe! Je suis très agréablement surpris par le nombre, car jusqu'à présent, après de nombreuses visites en Inde, je n'avais jamais entendu parlé de clarinette ici. Toujours violon, piano, un peu de chant, mais ça s'arrêtait là...
C'est donc avec le plus grand sourire que d'abord je les écoute, pour ensuite leur prodiguer quelques techniques rudimentaires mais si essentielles au jeu de la clarinette, leur donner quelques astuces ou autres images pour nourrir leur imagination. Et déjà les résultats sont là: de quelques notes péniblement sorties du bec de leur clarinette, ils se retrouvent subitement à faire chanter à pleine voix leur instrument d'un son chaud et généreux. La magie opère! Ils sont tellement touchants, leur volonté d'apprendre défie tout se que j'ai pu connaître jusqu'à présent. Et pourtant ils n'ont pas de gros moyens: les clarinettes qu'ils utilisent sont dans un piteux état, quand aux anches... un désastre! Ils m'apprennent que le prix d'une anche ici équivaut à peu près au prix de l'or! Sidérant...
En bref, l'Inde est vraiment le pays de tous les contrastes: aucun moyen mais une telle volonté et une telle dévotion pour cet art qu'ils chérissent tant qu'ils arrivent néanmoins à exprimer leurs émotions et à me toucher profondément à chaque fois. J'aime tant ce pays, et cela grâce à ces gens formidables que j'y ai croisé à chaque fois. Alors merci à vous mes amis, mes frères indiens, pour tout ce que nous partageons! Olivier Patey, Principal Clarinet
On the way: three flights, three tests of our persuasiveness in fighting to get Ani’s cello on board on its own seat, three very different airports.
We were met in Goa by: the sun (almost didn’t recognise it, it’s been so long), glass walls still painted with Christmas greetings and our helpful guide Lisa, who accompanied us into town and told us, in German and English, all about Goa’s history and its special mix of cultures, languages, music styles, and foods. The Portuguese influence is apparent everywhere, from the architecture to the names of the people we meet to the laid-back atmosphere in the streets - though this is probably neither Portuguese nor Indian, but simply: Goan.
We were exhausted on the evening of our arrival, but after freshening up we went to catch the end of the violin competition that is part of the festival we are playing at, Indo-German Confluences II, put on at the Kala Academy here in Panaji. The Kala Academy, we are told, is the only state-funded institution in India that has a department specifically devoted to Western Classical music. After the competition we were invited to dinner by our hosts here in Goa: Honorary German Consulate Cecilia Menezes and all those who create and support the Academy and the Festival. Our first curries, our first fresh naan, and a warm and open welcome from, as we are beginning to understand, a strong community that supports music here.
A bumpy first night’s sleep 4.5 hours ahead of Europe, and this morning we started bleary-eyed rehearsals with Mozart and Dvorak. At the midday break we took a photo in the sun to send over to Mumbai to publicise next week’s concert. While eating our lunch we sat and spoke with Dr Luis Dias, a Goan who runs a foundation with the aim of providing musical opportunities to those who wouldn’t normally receive them - much like our friend Joe Walters, who does the same with his children’s music programs, currently based mostly in Mumbai and always expanding. Luis tells us that good instruments and equipment like strings and bows are in short supply. Even the scores to learn from can be hard to come by.
Tonight, our violist Delphine joined members of the Goan State Symphony Orchestra along with other string coaches from Germany and students of the Academy to form the Festival orchestra. She met with several viola students today for some lessons, and Olivier will do the same tomorrow with some young clarinet players who are otherwise on their own, as there is no regular clarinet teacher here.
After Delphine’s concert we squeeze ten at a table into the corner of a recommended restaurant and test out the regional specialties. Ani tells the joke about the Bulgarian diplomats who come home and are asked if they did good work: “Yes, we ate all the food and tried all the drink we were offered.”
At the end of the day I ask everyone what their highlight of the tour has been so far, to make sure I haven’t missed anything: "My debut with a Goan orchestra"; "The fact that my cello got here on a seat"; "Meeting the Big Boss" (in this case, that's the name of the Goan coconut schnaps that rounded off our meal); and, "the fact that we already rehearsed all of the pieces!"
Which is a good point - cross your fingers, all stomachs adjusting well so far! Maggie Coe, Project Manager
