Three venues, three sessions, three days. The third edition of the Udaipur World Music Festival (conceptualised by the cultural organization SEHER) unfolded between February 9 and 11. “There couldn’t have been a better place than Udaipur,” said Sanjeev Bhargava, festival director and curator.
The morning sessions were held at Amet Haveli, with the lake as the backdrop. The morning sun greeted them, washing them warmly with rays. It was the perfect time for quiet reflective music. Udaipur has the charm of an old forted city with narrow lanes; the choice of a venue with a smaller audience was commendable because it proved to be quite a task to negotiate the lanes originally meant for elephants, camels and smaller vehicles. An observer commented (which I overheard), “No designer can change the narrow roads to lead to the venue, however beautiful it may be”. Traffic would come to a halt with vehicles unable to budge, motivating fitness freaks to take that walk! The morning session had a good collection; Subhadra Desai had the audience immersed with her exploration of ragas and chants; Petrakis and Lopez (having played with Parvathy Baul earlier in Kerala) brought in meditative music that reflected the spirit of their respective countries in the Mediterranean.
Dhruv Bedi proved his virtuosity over the sitar, and the session ended with the inimitable Aruna Sairam and Dominique Vellard—this was special in the sense that it was not fusion for the sake of it. The two artists had worked on understanding each other’s styles to make it their own; Aruna was able to join Vellard in his refrain of Ave Virgine, a Gregorian chant! They dwelled deep to find a connection between the two cultures, and the present concert looked at the dual narratives of love on earth and in heaven.
The afternoon sessions were held at Fateh Sagar Paal by the beautiful lake. Crowds poured in large numbers to listen to the four different bands. Shubh Saran, a young New York-based guitarist and composer cast his spell on the audience; Maati Baani, a folk fusion group known for its many collaborations with musicians across the world (mainly through the internet), had an interesting collaborator in the form of Linsey Pollak, an instrument-maker from Australia. Amine and Hamza brought in an Arabic flavour to the evening. Yet, on a personal note, it was Ankur Tewari from Mumbai who stole my heart, with his dard bari singing (laden with pain), and lyrics that touched the audience. He was able to connect to the audience instantly.
Ankur Tiwari at the Udaipur World Music Fest
The evening performances were lively, some mesmerizing and fun, and catered to larger audiences at the Gandhi Ground. Oi Dipnoi band from Italy began the evening with some beautiful music. They showcased snatches of Tarantella dance from Sicily, that was very aesthetically performed as the music progressed. This was followed by Flavia Coelho who worked her magic with the audience as she sang, danced and played her ‘woman guitar’ as she calls it (small and slender ,longish but not wide to hide her small frame)! “You must live and dance the concert,” she remarked as she sang Vayo, Vayo (freedom) in complete abandonment. This was followed by the ever charming trio Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy (SEL). Beginning with his unforgettable Vakra Thunda, Shankar moved from one Bollywood hit to another. They were all familiar ones, but the Shankar magic comes alive with every live performance of his. Each song had a prelude in the form of a musical conversation—for instance, he would ask Ehsaan Tera dil kya chahta hai?, and there would be a musical response from the song. SEL has many milestones to its name, having completed 21 years of their musical togetherness.
There were many other interesting bands like No Jazz. Says Philippe Delmas of No Jazz band, “We performed only jazz in the beginning. Later, we included soul music, hip-hop, and hence the name.” They truly brought a lot of magic with their performance. Astitva were refreshing with their Hindi pop music. Txarango from Catalunya had the audience really gripped as well. “Music is our hobby and our work,” they said.
Thus concluded the music fest which reflected different moods of music that spilled over different times of the day at different venues.
