Topic: The Saath-Saath Music Project
What happens when Indian and Chinese musicians meet? By ‘Indian’ and ‘Chinese’ I’m referring to performative idioms coming from certain geographical locations and embedded in specific social-cultural-political histories. Are they able to overcome the lack of shared languages? Can they communicate through voice and melody, and if so, what is communicated? Do they simply perform ‘their own music’ side by side with each other, or can they actually create new music together? Can the tensions involved in the interaction be resolved, or do they have to be held in balance? Taking the case of the Saath-Saath project which I curated across India, Hong Kong, and Mainland China, I will attempt to answer some of the questions posed here. This is an instance of practice-based research where the research problems are shaped by the practice and eventually make their way back to the practice. The talk will be accompanied by video clips and music.
Speaker:

Professor Tejaswini Niranjana
Director, Centre for Inter-Asian Research,
Ahmedabad University, India
|