Hornbill Festival 2012, Nagaland ● Photo Showcase

Hundreds gathered at the the Hornbill Festival 2012, a week long celebration that showcases Nagaland's rich tribal culture. Launched in the year 2000, this visually extravagant festival is celebrated during the first week of December every year to celebrate Nagaland's socio-cultural heritage.

Named after the bird, Hornbill Festival is one of the largest celebrations of the indigenous warrior tribes of Nagaland and therefore re-enactment of battles is a core part of the performances. Every session at this festival is kicked off with the traditional war cry from the hundreds of performers in their traditional attire. The dance performances have different stories to tell - from harvesting to legends, as spectators sit in open-air ampi-theaters and relish their eyes on the kaleidoscopic view of art and culture.

This annual fete with an orgy of music, dance, traditional games and skills, food, films, beauty pageants and peace rallies forms a meeting ground for the age old traditions and the progressive artists of the state.

Sudeepta Barua shares some of the variegated moments of the Hornbill Festival that he captured though his lens.

- Edited by Parmita Borah

Hornbill Festival 2012, Nagaland (photo - Sudeepta Barua)

Hornbill Festival 2012, Nagaland (photo - Sudeepta Barua)

Hornbill Festival 2012, Nagaland (photo - Sudeepta Barua)

Hornbill Festival 2012, Nagaland (photo - Sudeepta Barua)

Hornbill Festival 2012, Nagaland (photo - Sudeepta Barua)

Hornbill Festival 2012, Nagaland (photo - Sudeepta Barua)

Hornbill Festival 2012, Nagaland (photo - Sudeepta Barua)

Hornbill Festival 2012, Nagaland (photo - Sudeepta Barua)

Psychedelic evening with Deep Forest at Deep India concert

Electronica may be the flavor of the hour, but certainly not my first choice. Therefore a day before The Deep India Concert at Vivanta by Taj on December 13, 2012, I decided to chat up with Eric Mouquet, the front man of Grammy Award winning Deep Forest, and learn a thing or two about his music. (Click here to read Eric Moquet's interview). He clarified my doubt that although elctronica has become synonymous with mash-ups, club and dance music for my generation, his music has a wider scope to it. Deep Forest strives to create a synergy between technologies like sampling with deep rooted folk elements and even organic sound effects. Deep India is a spin off of that very concept.

Deep India Concert at Vivanta by Taj

For those who didn't know 'The Deep India concert' is a brief musical tour to promote the project 'Deep India', a collaboration between Deep Forest and Indian santoor player Rahul Sharma. The event was on the breezy evening of December 13, at Vivanta by Taj. Our moods pretty much in sync with psychedelic lights emitted by busy traffic, we reached an hour early for the concert and binged on yummy tidbits, standing next to an open bar.

I may still not be a trance/elctronica fan, but in all honesty, it was one hell of a show. Deep Forest kicked off the evening with some unhurried dreamy tracks, with David Fall on the drums, Alune Wade on the bass, Olyza Zamati - the vocalist, and the master himself Eric Mouquet on the keys (both on the keyboard and the laptop).

The highlight of the show has got to be composition 'Viva Madikere,' an ode to the enchanting hill station town Madikere. There's an interesting story behind this song. It so happened that Indian santoor player had recorded some drum beats, vocals and natural sound effects during his stay at Madikere and send them to Eric to get a flavor of the land. Inspired by the flavors of the place, Deep Forest worked on the song and named it 'Viva Madikere', which later paved way for the complete musical collaboration - Deep India. The audience were equally thrilled to groove to a Bihu song (traditional folk song of Assam) that Eric had fused with techno beats!

- by Parmita Borah                5HUE2USGAHPQ

Eric Mouquet of Deep Forest at Deep India Concert (photo - Jim Ankan Deka)

Olyza Zamati at Vivanta by Taj, Bangalore (photo - Jim Ankan Deka)

Alune Wade of Deep Forest at Deep India Concert, Bangalore, India  (photo - Parmita Borah)

Olyza Zamati at Deep India Concert, Vivanta by Taj, Bangalore (photo - Jim Ankan Deka)

David Fall at Deep India Concert, Vivanta by Taj, Bangalore (photo - Jim Ankan Deka)

Eric Mouquet of Deep Forest at Vivanta by Taj, Bangalore (photo - Jim Ankan Deka)

Olyza Zamati of Deep Forest at Vivanta by Taj, Bangalore (photo - Jim Ankan Deka)

Eric Mouquet at Deep India Concert, Vivanta by Taj, India (photo - Jim Ankan Deka)

Sitar Maestro who put Indian music on international map took his final bow

Pt. Ravi Shankar (1920-2012)

I can't claim to know much about Pandit Ravi Shankar's music, nor much about music for that matter; but it is safe to say that with his demise, the world of music has suffered another massive blow, and not just in the Indian scene but on a whole global front.

In the 1960's when India was still struggling to segregate and discover it's own identity from that of the leftover influence of Brits, a musician from orthodox classical music background emerged as a music icon of the western hippie culture. Was it dumb luck that shot him to fame? Not Likely. Dumb luck is for Gangam Style, not the likes of people who understood and fused genres with polar differences and created a blend that could be grasped and loved by many.

The multi talented Maestro wrote the Oscar-nominated score for 1982 film "Gandhi," several books, and mounted theatrical productions. His popularity exploded in the west for his multiple collaborations with western musicians, George Harrison being the most enduring one. Amongst his numerous performances in the west the most notable ones include the Woodstock Music Festival, Monterey Pop Festival and one at the Concert for Bangladesh at Madison Square Gardens in New York City (of which he was a co-organiser along with Harrison). Pandit Ravi Shankar’s influence in classical music, including on composer Philip Glass, is equally noteworthy. His work with Menuhin on their "West Meets East" albums in the 1960s and 1970s earned them a Grammy, and he wrote concertos for sitar and orchestra for both the London Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic.

Pandit Ravi Shankar has been the recipient of many prestigious awards and recognition. Silver Bear Extraordinary Prize of the Jury at the 1957 Berlin International Film Festival, Sangeet Natak Akademi Award; the three highest national civil honours of India: Padma Bhushan, in 1967, Padma Vibhushan, in 1981, and Bharat Ratna, in 1999, just to name a few. He was made an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Elizabeth II for his "services to music". He will also receive lifetime achievement Grammy award posthumously, making him the first Indian recipient of the award. The 55th annual Grammy Awards show will be held in Los Angeles on February 10, 2013.

Pt. Shankar’s contribution to Indian music is equally substantial – from composing music for Apu Triology to working as the music director of All India Radio, New Delhi, from 1949 to 1956. His legacy however, is not limited to being a brilliant sitar virtuoso; rather, the fact that he helped assimilate traditional Indian Raagas into the ever progressing world of rock and roll, thus opening the flood gates of fusion. He helped to craft and develop a genre of music that the whole world could understand, relate to and enjoy. While fusion experiments may not always be successful, but with the sitar going global and forming a core part of rock ballads, jazz and world music, Shankar threw light on centuries-old traditions of Indian music which would have otherwise remained unknown. Niklas Stålvind, lead guitarist of the Swedish heavy metal band ‘Wolf’ himself played the sitar on the track “Electric Raga. A synergy like that is feasible today, thanks to the vision that Pandit Ravi Shankar had many decades back.

There’s little wonder why George Harrison of Beatles labelled him as the ‘godfather of world music’.

- by Parmita Borah

Candid conversation with Eric Mouquet - frontman of Grammy Award winning Deep Forest

French duo Eric Mouquet and Michel Sanchez from the Grammy Award winning ‘Deep Forest’ are all set to perform in Bangalore. World music and Electronica enthusiasts can watch them live at The Deep India Concert on December 13, 2012 at Vivanta by Taj (6.30 PM onwards). Deep Forest is celebrated in the world music scene for fusing ethnic music with dance and chill-out beats. Their albums have sold over 10 million copies and they are also the recipients of the World Music Awards - French group with the highest 1995 world sales.

Eric Mouquet and Parmita Borah (© Jim Ankan Deka)

We managed to catch hold of the charming Eric Mouquet, a day before his performance at Vivanta by Taj, Bangalore, and spoke about his two decades long musical journey and his collaboration with Indian musician Rahul Sharma; and dig this – made him sing a Hindi song! Here’s an excerpt of our brief yet fun filled conversation –

Parmita Borah: It’s been twenty years that you’ve been associated with the music industry. How has your journey been?

Eric Mouquet: It’s been fantastic and adventerous. I didn’t imagine when we began, that we would come this far. I consider myself very lucky because I continue to travel, meet musicians, do shows and concerts. The beauty of this whole journey is that you get to meet new people and always have the inspiration to make new projects. So it’s been an amazing adventure.

Eric Mouquet of Deep Forest (© Jim Ankan Deka)

PB: When we say ‘electronica’, mostly trance and mash ups come to mind; and there’s ‘ethnic eletronica’ which seems to have folk elements.

EM: It’s hard to say. When I was a teenager, electronica was preferred, it wasn’t dance at all, it was ambient music. Today it’s all about club and dance. I think every generation has it’s own taste (laughs). For me electronica is a way to use the synthesizer, and the sequencer and a way to compose music using technical things like sampling, analog and digital sounds. Ofcourse, trance is a part of it, and we will play trance at our performace tomorrow, but the scope of electronica is much wider than that.

PB: Of all your global collaborations, you’ve have recently collaborated with Indian musician Rahul Sharma. Tel us something about that.

EM: To be honest, I didn’t know Rahul Sharma before this project. Sony Music asked me to listen to Rahul Sharma’s Santoor works, it’s a very beautiful instrument and Rahul’s a very good musician. It’s always easy to work with a good musician because we speak the same language. Our project is supported by Vivanta by Taj, and therefore we will be performing in Bangalore and Coorg.

Eric Mouquet and Parmita Borah (© Jim Ankan)

PB: About your association with Vivanta by Taj, would you like to tell us something about that?

EM: Actually Rahul was in Vivanta by Taj, Madikere. There he recorded some nature sound effects, drum beats and vocals and sent them for me to get a feel of the place. Later we worked on the sounds, wrote a song and now we have a song called Viva Madikere, inspired by the beauty of the land.

PB: Did he teach you any Hindi song?

EM: None as yet.

I broke into the song ‘Pyaar Huwa Ikraar Huwa’ from Shree 420, and Eric Mouquet pretty much got it right at his second attempt, making me his first Hindi Teacher! Deep Forest will be performing on December 13, 2012 at Vivanta by Taj, 6.30 PM onwards. Catch them live at The Deep India Concert if you want to kick start your weekend in a cool way.

- by Parmita Borah

Grammy award winning Deep Forest to perform at ‘Deep India’ concert

Eric Mouquet (Deep Forest)

Deep Forest, the Grammy Award winning band from France will be performing for the first time in India at 'Deep India' concert on Thursday, December 13. The venue Vivanta by Taj at MG Road, Bangalore in collaboration with Sony Music will showcase this musical evening.

Deep Forest, comprising of  Michel Sanchez and Eric Mouquet, was nominated for a Grammy Award for the first time in 1994 and won the award for the album 'Boheme' in 1995. The band is known for their unique music, also known as 'ethnic electronica'.

The band will be performing in the city to celebrate the “one with nature” rainforest retreat 'Vivanta Madikeri Coorg'. Their collaboration with Santoor maestro Rahul Sharma will be available in an upcoming album ‘Deep India’. One of the tracks from the album is a tribute to Vivanta by Taj - Madikeri, Coorg, a visually stunning rainforest retreat spread across 180 acres.

Tickets of the event are priced at Rs.2000 and one can contact 080-6660-4444 for advance booking.

Vivanta by Taj Currently comprises of 25 hotels and resorts in India and the Indian Ocean region. Vivanta by Taj is represented across key metropolitan capitals as well as popular holiday destinations like Goa, Kerala, Rajasthan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives.

- EFNI