So last week I went to see Talvin Singh and Roopa Panesar at the Southbank Centre in London, which is host to the annual Alchemy Festival which celebrates the music, dance, literature (and food!) from India, UK and South Asia.
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| At the festival. Me and Bollywood-we're like peaches and cream. |
The event titled 'The Bombay Talkies' was a really fun and interesting display of live musical scores to two classic silent movies of Indian Cinema.
The silent movies were projected on a large screen behind the musicians. There was cello, drums, bass and violin and of course Talvin Singh on the tabla and Roopa Panesar on the sitar. The way these instruments brought these silent movies to life was pure genius! It just goes to show how 'instrumental' (excuse the pun!) music is in adding to the drama of the storytelling.
We didn't get to see the first movie ('Raja Harishchandra') because we were a teeny tiny bit late but the musicians played the original score so that would have been something to see.
The second silent movie 'Devi' had Sharmila Tagore (Saif Ali Khan's mum if you don't know!) as the main actress and her acting as a women possessed by Kali was made all the more convincing with the live score, especially the sitar. Watching this film made me realise how forward Indian Cinema was at that time because the acting and the cinematography was all on point.
Overall, it was a uniquely clever and impressive event! In other words 'kya baat!'
Don't just be inspired, be twinspired!
Hernoor
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