Asian
University for Women
&
Son Ar Mein
French baroque Ensemble
The choir of students of the Asian University for Women, Chittagong, Bangladesh,accompanied by the French baroque ensemble Son Ar Mein Consort performed songs from Nagaland, Cambodia, Spain, France and Rabindra-sangeet at St Johns Church Secunderabad.
The ensemble of
5 professional specialist baroque instrumentalists and the choir of 35 singers/students
of AUW from 15 different countries performed this unusual concert with the
wonderfully expressive name - FROM EARTH to HEART.
The show, which
is a part of a tour of 7 cities in the sub-continent, was sponsored and
organised by Alliance Francaise. The tour, was, as said in the brochure, to
build a bridge and open a poetic space between the ancient cultures of France
and the East and South Eastern countries of Asia.
The selection
of music was quite eclectic, ranging from a sacred song from Nagaland to the
music of French composers of the 18th century, to music from the
baroque period which was from around the 16th to the middle of the
17th century. There was also a Lebanese song from the 20th
century and two pieces from the 12th and 14th centuries
and a song from Cambodia. These musical pieces varied from sacred music, folk
music, and music that beckoned to 'dance with the flute and they ended with a
Rabindra sangeet, Anandadhara, by Rabindranath Tagore.
Though I am not
a musician, we in the audience could tell that the Asian University for Women
choir was good. And though they sang four-part harmony with the voices divided
into first and second soprano and first
and second alto voices, we didn't hear individual voices. They sang in one voice harmonising well, with
good control of dynamics and expression, and, they maintained tempo and pitch
throughout. The soloists, Christine Alexis, Sophorn Saat, Salma Farha, Aamal
Alshihawi, Tanushree Dasgupta, Priya Baidya, Nashiba Nawor, and Roshani Raut
did their pieces creditably, especially the Cambodian soloist who sang the
difficult 'Sacred Song from Cambodia' while walking up the aisle from the back
rows of the church to join the choir. Moreover,
the girls displayed good composure even though they had a strenuous fight with
Tuesday evening Hyderabad traffic and a tough tour schedule of a different city
in a different State every day, but more than that, and this is really
creditable, was, how the students choir sang so well and held their own when
they were being accompanied by professional musicians who played on original
baroque period instruments. For this, abundant credit should go to the
conductor of the choir, because it is his job to not only cue the choir and
help them maintain the tempo and dynamics while conducting, but to also train
the choir over hours and hours of practices, and mould them, and give them the confidence
that they need to relax and perform without stress. And the excellent conductor
who did this was the modest and friendly Dr. Selvam Thorez. We were truly
impressed with his work.
Coming to the
French professional musicians who played baroque era music on baroque period
instruments, well, what can one say about professional musicians?
They have to be
good. And they were! But what was interesting to the audience, was, when they
demonstrated the baroque period instruments that they played.
Camille Aubret
demonstrated the baroque violin that she played. The neck of the baroque violin is short
and straight and the strings are made of gut; the baroque bow is quite
short and curved like a bow compared to that of the contemporary violin,
the baroque violin is therefore softer than the contemporary violin.
Jean-Luc Tamby
played the Baroque Guitar, which is smaller and lighter than a contemporary
classical guitar and also has gut strings, and the resonating chamber is
covered with a flat soundboard which didn't seem to have a sound hole.
Keviyan
Chevirani demonstrated the dombak or zarb, the goblet shaped drum from Persia,
and the Persian 'Daf', a frame drum which is very similar to a Kanjira but much
larger, with metal ringlets on it.
Stephane Tamby showed
us both, the flute and the bassoon that he played. The Baroque flute is an
end-blown wooden flute that looked like a wooden recorder with four sections. And
the baroque bassoon is a large double reed instrument and had only four keys,
and though it looked crude compared to the modern sleek bassoons it sounded as
good.
Martin Bauer showed his instrument which was called a Baroque era 'Viol', also called a Viola da Gamba, it was as large as a cello, was low pitched and was played with a bow, and though it looked ancient and worn, the player good-humouredly told me that it was a reproduction of a baroque era instrument and that it looks old and used because he has had it, carried it and played it for many years.
But this was not all the music we heard during the evening, we
also heard Sudeep play a short piece on the organ before Commodore TMJ Champion
played an organ prelude by French Baroque Composer Marc-Antoine Charpentier on the large,
well restored, pipe organ that was installed in St John's church in 1904, to
bring out the rich and resonant sound of the pipe organ before the evenings'
main event began. The choir and all
the musicians must also be congratulated for not being distracted by the
traffic sounds that punctured the elegant arched-windowed, high wooden-ceilinged,
Tuscan-pillared church that was built in 1813, and for contending with the deep,
high and wide altar and apse and transepts of the cross-shaped, perfectly
proportioned church design that scatters sound equally upwards and in all the
cardinal directions.
In conclusion
it would be right to say that the music performed by the French Baroque musical
ensemble Son Ar Mein Consort from France, and the Asian University
for Women Choir from Chittagong, Bangladesh, at The Church of St John the
Baptist, Secunderabad, on the 17th of December 2019, truly opened a
poetic space and built a bridge between Earth and our hearts through their
music.
Photographs: Mini Nayani
Photographs: Mini Nayani
