In a hotel room in Panjim, a frail girl who
could pass off as not a day more than 22, listens to flamenco singer Javier
Vasquez, as he renders a full throated evocative number. The girl, Renu Hossain
jumps out of the room, darts into hers and comes back with her tabla ensemble.
She quickly whips out a bit of powder, caresses the surface of her beloved
instrument, folds her hand in silent prayer and worship and starts playing, in
the same beat as Javier. Renu, actually in her early forties was born to
Bengali parents in 24 Parganas in West Bengal who moved to London. But as it
happens in most Bengali homes, girls are given the harmonium to play on and
sing before they learn their alphabets. Renu took to the tabla though. She was
in Goa as part of the Danish team doing an international music project. Music
like the river, has no boundaries.
The privileged few sat in that room,
awestruck, but this was only the beginning. There was someone else on the
floor, Lola Rueda, one of the reigning queens of Flamenco. As Hossain’s playing
reached a feverish pitch, and Javier took his singing into a new octave, Lola
began her Flamenco moves, slow, then rapid, then electric fast. From another
corner, our very own Carlos Gonsalves began on some surface, drumming the way
he only knew. In that one tiny room, the music of the world converged and
became a wonderful symphony. All of them
performers in their own groups in the just concluded international music
festival Sufi Sutra, easily the most diverse that Goa has ever witnessed, with
a star cast of musicians who have been the soul, the spirit and even
revolutionary catalysts of change in their countries.
It was over that night. Or was it? After
three days of hectic workshops, performances and concerts, none of them across
seven countries wanted to ever stop. From the venue to the hotel, over dinner
and just after, and even after, as the night moved into dawn; the hotel had
music emanating from the courtyard, from the rooms and even on the street
below. This was priceless and this was divine.
In the hotel courtyard, dinner was just
getting over, when the ever smiling bearded Amer Refaat Eltony, in flowing
white robes took a flute out of his pocket and started playing softly. Eltony
is almost revered as saint in his land of Egypt where he propagates peace
through music through his group Mawlawiyahh. During the most violent and
turbulent times in Cairo, as when the Arab Spring was in the making, Amer did
what very few could. He sang for his motherland. That night in Panjim, after
three days of being with fellow musicians, he still wanted more. As he moved
from the flute to vocals and belted out soulful Arabic renditions, others
joined in.
Annete Bellaoui, from Denmark picked up her
trumpet placed next to her dinner table and gave music to Amer’s songs and
almost on cue the ladies from Morocco, middle aged to the rapidly ageing, but
who sing like nightingales and so light on their feet, entered the fray, while
Tunisians, perfect exponents of the Sufi art, began their renditions. The
Rajasthani troupe couldn’t stay away and entered the circle with their
headgear, followed by the Baul singers of Bengal who danced, leapt and played
the dhol.
There were different expressions, myriad
clothes and costumes and exciting instruments but just one set of people. Folks
whose life is about uniting people through music.
For
four years in succession banglanatak dot com, a unique organisation from
Bengal, promoting livelihood though music, brought an amazing array of world
musicians to Calcutta. For the first time this year the fifth Sufi Sutra
festival moved to Dhaka and Goa before finishing in Calcutta, its original
home. But in that room in the courtyard and every-where else, yours truly was
privileged beyond expectation. We did see musicians that night. But we saw some
of the best souls our creator has created across countries. Souls who do not
have to sing for their supper, but sustain this world through a rare gift that
keeps people together – music.
Goa was blessed to have them.
