From Tel Aviv to New Delhi, an orchestra that only plays blindfolded

The idea for the Blind Orchestra is a simple one: Except for the conductor, all members of the orchestra are blindfolded throughout the performance. There is no set playlist and none of the band members — usually a mix of local and foreign musicians — know what they are going to play next. Each member gets to start a new song, while the rest join in as per the conductor’s instructions.

“Not even the key is decided. If the conductor touches you once, you start. If he touches you again, you stop. If he touches you with both sticks, you go into overdrive,” said Rosen. “Musicians improvise and you get never-before-heard music. It is like witnessing a painter at work. When a painter is drawing something extraordinary, you would want to sit and watch how it’s being done,” he said.

Chintan Kalra, among the founding members of one of India’s biggest rock bands, Parikrama, was part of Friday’s Orchestra. Chintan was approached to play last year too, at the Piano Man Jazz Club, but things did not materialise then. “When an opportunity knocks at your door again, you shouldn’t let it go. There are always parts of a song where I close my eyes. I love to improvise, but this is very different,” said Kalra.

Rosen does not remember when and how the idea of the Blind Orchestra struck him, but the 37-year-old plans to make the concept global. He’s also stitching together an album with the performances recorded over the last two years. “In the future, I would like to see centres coming up across the world where musicians can come and jam together,” Rosen said. He recalled that he had an old piano at home, and started taking lessons from a local instructor. “The teacher wasn’t good. If he had been proficient, I would have been a pianist today, not a drummer,” he said.