Ramana Balachandhran/Abhishek Borkar/Tejovrush Joshi/Praveen Sparsh: Ragam Abheri/Raag Bhimpalasi

Over the years "Jugalbandis" seem to have lost their true meaning and charm. It is commonly argued that such collaborations fail because one artiste does not truly know, understand or appreciate the music of the other.

More often than not, we found that at such attempts the artistes simply came on stage, sometimes never having met before, and expect some magic to happen, based simply on the premise that their respective expertise and taleem would carry them through. So typically one artiste would play or perform his or her part for a cycle or two, then stop playing altogether while the other artiste "did his or her thing" and then pick up where he or she left off. The final result then was simply two distinct forms of music being played on the same stage but never truly blending to create something beautiful, original and new, and thus most unsatisfying.

But we did not want to give up the attempt, so at our recent CUSP festival in Chennai we invited four young artistes to work together and see if they could create something special. To make things work we urged them to start conversing and thinking about the music with each other weeks before the actual event. We also ensured that they spend at least two days together in rehearsals and figure out how to make the music work organically. We specifically identified the wonderful young musicians Ramana Balachandhran, Abhishek Borkar, Tejovrush Joshi and Praveen Sparsh as the artistes because we sensed they would approach the music with an open mind and not come encumbered with egos and the baggage of their respective art forms.

The resulting performance, we think, worked. Watch this video and judge for yourself. Let us know in the comments section below your honest opinion. Please remember to be polite and give us constructive criticism.
Enjoy.

Видео Ramana Balachandhran/Abhishek Borkar/Tejovrush Joshi/Praveen Sparsh: Ragam Abheri/Raag Bhimpalasi канала First Edition Arts Channel