FROM EARTH TO HEART

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 18^th century, to music from the baroque period which was from around the 16^th to the middle of the 17^th century. There was also a Lebanese song from the 20^th century and two pieces from the 12^th and 14^th 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 17^th of December 2019, truly opened a poetic space and built a bridge between Earth and our hearts through their music.

Photographs: Mini Nayani