Sounds with heart-wrenching Sufi poetry in Mumbai

By Divya Unny - Daily News & Analysis - Mumbai, India

Monday, March 19, 2007

Musical production ‘Darb-Al-Harir’ is all set to premiere in Mumbai on March 23

It is not often that music lovers encounter the blend of so many diverse tunes on one single platform. Presenting a unique and fascinating merger of classic Arabic, Spanish flamenco, Rajasthani tribal, carnatic, hindustani classical and many more tunes is the musical production ‘Darb-Al-Harir’ (‘The Silky Paths’) which will premier at the NCPA on March 23.

Probably the only production of its kind, Darb-Al-Harir attempts to familiarise audiences with various sounds predominated by heart-wrenching Sufi poetry.

Says music composer Nishith Mehta, “Our lead singer Maryam is Algerian and it was her idea to create something with seventh century poet Al Halej’s sufi poetry. As we went ahead with it, there were various different musicians we encountered from varied cultures who incorporated their styles into the production. We wouldn’t call it world or fusion music, but just multiple music sensibilities coming together.”

The group has performed in several cities across India and has received diverse reactions from audiences, though they believe in maintaining the identity of every musician in the group. “We have extreme genres like carnatic classical and kutch bhajans put together, but we want listeners to identify with each sound differently,” he says.

Though there is no primary message the group tries to convey through their music, Nishith asserts that it is a conscious effort to promote Rajasthani tribal music, which has been brutally ignored. “Tribal music has never been encouraged independently but always been considered an accompanist with tribal dance. We want to break this conception.”

The eight-member production is a collaborative effort by Musica Productions (India), Alterites Continents and Musiques (France) in association with The French Embassy; it plans to travel across Europe in late September.