Strings of Sweet Sounds

Tanvir,an Anglo-Indian,has grown up on the folk music of the West and of India. Their rich and diverse styles of music inspired her. “Whenever we came to India from the UK,I noticed how people would improvise on their music and other art forms,” she says. “I found the relationship between rigorous rhythmic structure and the freedom to invent melodic patterns very inspiring.”

The concert featured a mix of folk songs like The water is wide (Scotland),Fa Nan Kaiza (Madagascar),Raggle Taggle Gypsies (Ireland and Russia) Sahondra (Madagascar) along with other songs from France and Scotland.

Both the musicians feel that it was their love for expression that led them both to take up music. “I chose the harp because it lends itself to many different styles of music and is a universal instrument. There is freedom to create,explore and at the same time there is a certain simplicity about the instrument,” says Tanvir who is also a trained classical singer from the Royal Academy of Music,London. Her current harp,she says,is custom-made by Swiss harp-maker Claude Bioley and has a sound especially suited to accompany her singing. The music of Django Reinhardt inspired Beaujouan to learn the guitar in his teenage years. “I eventually went on to learn music in Valenciennes,France. I picked a lot of jazz music,” he adds.

Both the artistes are keen to collaborate with Indian musicians. “The Celtic harp is rarely heard of here in India,” Tanvir says,adding,“I want to collaborate with Indian artistes to start a new musical dialogue between the western and Indian music cultures.”