A decade of World Peace Music Festival Sur Jahan, celebrating cultural diversity and
pluralism!
The festival is a harbinger of music,
harmony and togetherness. What the celebration has held together for the past
years is an assemblage of World Music bands and folk artists of India, and the
year 2020 will be no exception. The 3-day festival in Goa on Feb 5-7 is here to
witness euphonious tunes together with scintillating performances. The event
has a very interesting line-up with Dalinda – exploring Hungarian folk
melodies; Radiant Arcadia – all women band from Denmark, Godfather of Nordic
music ‘Ale Moller’, South Korean band Coreyah and the legendary singer Danyèl
Waro from the Reunion island. The festival continues to showcase traditional
handicraft and folk performances creating a true music carnival in Goa, where
global culture matters! The festival happens first in Kolkata, then comes to
Goa and this is the first time the festival will also travel to Jaipur in
Rajasthan, to be held at JKK on Feb 8-10.
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Radiant Arcadia (Denmark)
Radiant Arcadia was formed in 2013, by Annette Bellaoui, who
thought it important to showcase the skills of women musicians, and the ability
to collaborate across traditions, languages and nationalities. The musicians
are from Muslim, Jewish and Christian background, which shows in their
performances. Likewise they come from an array of traditions, from Nordic and
Celtic folk music, to jazz, rock, Klezmer and Middle Eastern ballads. The
musicians are all highly skilled, academy trained and with years of performing
experience.
The band is unique, as they are the only
ones, in the world, who covers such a wide range of languages, cultures and
music styles. In their performance, they show the strength of friendship and
the wish to collaborate, as well as the firm belief, that music is an
international language, and when your performance is from your heart, you can
touch hearts. The band includes Tine Vitskov in clarinet and bass clarinet,
Maren Hallberg in accordion, Anne Eltard in violin, Salam Susu in harp and
vocals, Karen Jorgensen and Channe Nussbaum in vocals, Aoife Scott in vocals
and bodhran (irish hand drum) and Radia Sanchez in vocals and daff.
Ale Moller and Ensemble (Sweden)
Ale Moller is a living legend in Swedish folk music who has been
pushing the barriers of Scandinavian music since the past four decades. His
musical journey began as a jazz trumpeter, from which he evolved into a folk
musician and has since become a prominent proponent of world music, combining
Swedish folk traditions with those of Shetland, Greece, India and West Africa.
He has released nearly 40 albums till date. For many years Swedish legendary musician/composer
Ale Moller, winner of SKAP’s FRED Winter Prize and Lifetime Achievement Award
given by the American organization Folk Alliance International, often called
‘The Godfather of Nordic World Music’, has created new music out of meetings
between musicians from different cultures . This version of his band will have
Ale Möller himself on various instruments like mandola, flutes, cows horn,
clarino and harmonica, along with two great singers – Mamadou Sene from West
Africa, and Greek singer/dancer Maria Stellas. Two musicians from the younger
generation also join this ensemble, Anna Moller (Ale Moller’s daughter) one of
the for most fiddle players on todays Nordic folk scene and Johan Graden,
pianist/composer, is one of the most innovative young swedish jazz musicians.
Percussionist Olle Linder is a legend on the Swedish world scene and is the
pillar of this band. Together they form a creative musical meeting place full
of energy, groove and emotions.
Coreyah (South Korea)
Coreyah is a multiple awards winning Korean and world music
ensemble consisting of six members. Three of the members are performers of
traditional Korean instruments such as Daegeum, Sogeum, Tungso, Geomungo and
traditional Korean drums, whereas one member is a vocalist, one a guitarist and
one a percussionist. Their music thus reflects a rich blend of tradition and
modernity. Coreyah made its debut in 2010. Since then, their signature style
has constituted of a blend of various genres of ethnic and world music as well
as popular music, while still maintaining the distinctive Korean musical flavor
imparted by the traditional instruments. Thus, their music consists of a
multi-layered soundscape encompassing traditional Korean and contemporary world
music, giving it an exotic and yet a strangely familiar flavor. They have
released four albums till date and have travelled globally with their music
gaining awe, appreciation and admiration from music connoisseurs all around the
world. The band includes Sang Wook An, Boyoung Ham, Sun Jin Na, Jaehyeon Ko,
Jaesik Park, Dong Kun Kim and Cho Rong Kim.
Danyel Waro (Reunion Islands)
The musical tradition that Danyel Waro symbolizes and upholds is
acoustic Maloya, the blues of La Reunion islands in the Indian Ocean. Musician
and poet Danyel Waro is known to sing Creole with unparalleled passion and
emotion. According to him, the Maloya has put him in harmony with the La
Reunion islands. Through his music he champions self determination and identity
associated with that place. His music is thus a reminder of the cultural
heritage of his place and also of the hope and courage in the face of the
challenges posed by the independence movements of La Réunion islands that had
erupted in the 1970s, followed by the Renaissance of the 1980s. It is thus no
wonder that he is regarded as a hero in the volcanic of La Reunion islands. He
is also known to craft his own musical instruments – traditional ones from that
area – the Kayanm – a flat instrument manufactured from stems of cane flowers
and filled with wild saffron seeds; the Bobre, made of a cord suspended on a
bow with a calabash as resonance chamber and the Rouler – a large drum made
from a rum barrel over which is stretched a cow-skin. Since 1987, he has
released ten albums and a documentary has also been made of him. He became a
recipient of the WOMEX (World Music Expo) Award in 2010. Other member include
Gilles Lauret, Mickael Tony, Bino Natanael and Philippe Xavier Albert Conrath.
Dalinda (Hungary)
Dalinda is, in essence, an A’capella band, that is, one that
sings without musical accompaniment. This band has three women, Sara Timar,
Fanni Eszter Nadasdy and Julianna Erzsebet Paar as lead singers and their music
represents a celebration of womanhood and feminine energy – based on the
traditional tunes of Hungarian folk music. The power and playfulness, based on
folk based rhythms, are the hallmarks of their music. Through their music,
woven together by folk tradition and modern sounds, charge the audience with
feminine energy and tells about the stages of womanhood in all its earthy and
celestial cadence and candor. The messages imparted by their music are
everlasting and relevant till date – birth, life, death, body, and soul. They
have been playing live music since 2015 and have been performing before international
audiences since 2017. Recently, Dalinda is evolving beyond A’capella and is
venturing into sublime musical experiences involving instrumentals as well,
imparting an aura of richness in terms of tunes to their breathtaking musical
presentations. That is why, for this festival, they will be accompanied by a
wonderful trio of instrumental performers Balint Konczei, Daniel Szabo and
Attila Gyorgy Kaszap.
Mangniyars of Rajasthan, India
Manganiyars are the traditional folk musicians of Western Rajasthan.
The Manganiyars sing Rajasthani folk song, Marwar Lok geet and Sufiyana Kalam.
The folk songs mainly revolve around the lives of the Rajas and Maharajas,
daily lifestyle, gods and goddesses and several immortal love stories. Thane
khan, Manjur Khan, Samsu Khan, Bhage Khan, Kalyan Khan and Tarif Khan are the
artists.
Bauls of Bengal, India
Baul is a philosophy and Baul is music. The philosophy gets
passed from the ‘Guru’ to his disciples. About 500 years old, Baul music is the
soul of Bengal and is essentially the music of self-searching. Lalan Fakir, who
used to live at Kushtia in Bangladesh, may be called the champion of Baul
music. Living the life of an esoteric, denouncing the material world, Bauls
urge people to rise above the narrow divides created by caste, creed and
religion to find love, peace and harmony. Baul music got inscribed in UNESCO
Representative List of Heritage of Humanity in 2008.
Debalina
Bhowmick of Kolkata will lead the team and will be accompanied by Mallika Akar,
Chhote Golam and Nemai Khyapa of Murshidabad. They are joined by Elvis Lobo in
guitar and Carlos Gonsalves in percussions (from Goa) and Arpan Thakur
Chakraborty in Dotara, Khokan Das in Dhol, Mohan Tati in Flute (from West
Bengal).
