Two Scoops--Two Academic Scoops! Interviews with SOI Top Brass!

Friday, February 8, 2019
Bombay

Two Scoops--Two Academic Scoops! Interviews with SOI Top Brass!

     Namaste from Bombay!
     It was a heck of a day! I waited a long time for it and finally it dawned! I had completed all my interviews with personnel of the Symphony Orchestra of India about 2 months ago. I was only waiting for the top guns to arrive from overseas for the 'season' so that I could interview them. And today I got those under my belt too. I have been working, as the Beatles put it, like a dog! Hopefully, it will all pay off in time.
     But, first things first...I awoke and drafted a blog post and then caught the bread man for 3 broons--two for my brekkie with spreads and one with cold roasted tongue to make a sandwich to take for lunch.  That done, I hopped into the shower and then took my usual Bandra local train at 9.45 and got to the city.
     I was at Nariman Point by 10.45 but since my first interview was not until 1.00 pm, I had time to go and see a very special exhibition.

Azra Bhagat's Installation at the Bajaj Art Gallery:
     You have all heard of my friend Shahnaz by now, right? Well, her lovely daughter Azra, a student at Ashoka University near Delhi right now where she is doing her Masters in the Humanities, is also an artist--she was trained in London and worked for a while as a graphic artist in an advertising agency before deciding to change streams and go all Liberal Arts on us! Welcome to the Club!
     However, she still does more than just dabble in art and she is a participant in a group exhibition right now at the Bajaj Art Gallery in Nariman Point. I waited until the gallery opened at 11.00 and was the first visitor in today.
     The show is called The Future is Here and it contains a series of highly digitalized works that bring all sorts of new media (including social media) into the artistic realm. I have to admit that I do not understand much of what was on display, but Azra's work focussed on Emoticons and what sorts of impact they have when they are 'mashed' up, for instance. She had three ways in which emoticons might be reinterpreted for our times and they are all interactive, i.e. the viewer is encouraged to become a participant in the art project in the same way that you would actually use the Emoticons in your daily communication. A very interesting concept and very well executed. I am both happy and excited for Azra who is the sweetest person and such a talented soul too!

Off to the NCPA:
     I then spent the next two hours in the library of the NCPA reading Laughter in the House by Meher Marfatia which deals exclusively with Parsi Gujarati Theater and is a lavish almost coffee-table sort of book that documents the golden age of this kind of theater--from the 1930s until 2000. It is chockfull of wonderful black and white pictures and all sorts of interviews, reminiscences by next of kin of those who have passed on, eg. Adi Marzban and Jimmy Pocha. In the process, it opened up for me a whole new means of looking at my own project and thinking about how I might be able to incorporate some of the techniques the author has used to enliven my own future book/s and make it/them accessible for the lay man (as opposed to the limited target audience of the academic community). I asked for several pages of it to be photocopies (and I will pick them up in a few days). Meanwhile, I have also begun my perusal of Taj Mahal Fox Trot by Naresh Mehta which is a similar pean on Jazz in Bombay through the same period. However, as Marfatia's book took me two hours to puruse, I merely found the time to leaf through Naresh's book before I had to leave. I will be looking at it in detail, of course, and also trying to fix up an interview with both authors.

An Interview with Marat Bissangaliev:
     If you want to see how a chance encounter (purely by happenstance) can completely change the life of a performing artist, there is no better example than Marat Bissangaliev. In 2006, he was just another highly talented Russian violinist trying to find an international niche in London.  Khushroo Suntook, Director of the NCPA, happened to hear him play at a local church and was so struck by his virtuosity that he went up and asked him if he would help him create a symphony orchestra in India. Just like that. Marat accepted! And?
     The rest is history. The orchestra went into creation in 2007 and has never looked back. Marat is the Director and although he now lives in the south of France, he visits Bombay twice a year during the season. He selected the musicians who comprise the orchestra (90 % of whom are Khazaks like himself, 10% of whom are Indians!) and, in the process, also ended up creating a music school for young Indian musicians to be trained in the same way that pupils are trained in any of the European conservatoires of music.
     My interview with him lasted a little over an hour. He was more that co-operative, very happy to admit how completely his life changed after that chance meeting and how amazed he still is that he has made history as the creator and founder of India's first symphonic orchestra. He is given an apartment at the NCPA for his use when he is in town and his sister Aida (a great pianist whom I had interviewed earlier) was also present. Similarly a man who called himself Sudipto (I think) Sea was also there.  He happened to be retired from the Reserve Bank of India, so we had a bit of a chat about our common place of work!      
     It was great fun chatting with Marat who was wonderfully open to my line of questioning and responded in a very satisfactory fashion. Aida sweetly made us tea (which I did not have) and left us some Russian cookies (which were delish--marshmallows covered with dark chocolate--yum!).
     I then ate my lunch in Hutoxi Bilimoria's office and returned to the library.

An Interview with Zane Dalal:
     My next interview was with Zane Dalal, conductor and Artistic Director of the SOI, who comes to Bombay twice a year from Los Angeles where he is based all year round. Believe me, I have never found a more articulate, enthusiastic, learned and compelling interviewee. Turns out he graduated from Oriel College, Oxford, with a degree in Music (why did I not guess he was a fellow Oxonian?). While there, he was Choir Master--as a Parsi, he is the first non-Christian to hold that position.
     I found it simply fascinating talking to this animated man who threw light on so many little aspects about Western Performing Arts in India that I took copious notes and learned so much.
     I will be attending a performance of the SOI tomorrow night (can't wait!!!)  and will have the chance finally to listen to some of the musicians I have interviewed (Francis Mendes, Mark Nunes) as well as watch choir conductor Blossom Mendonca conduct the Living Voices Choir as the orchestra plays Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. What a treat awaits me!!!
    So, when the interview ended, I took the pictures I needed and left the NCPA. I hopped into a bus and got to Churchgate and went straight to Gaylord's to get some more take-home Waldorf Salad as I had given most of mine to Dad and Russel so that they could enjoy it.
   
Back Home for Mass:
     I got home later the usual, but had a pot of tea with cake as I watched Still Game on TV. A little later, I went straight for Mass (as Dad told me he was too tired to join me today). After Mass, I visited with him and Russel for about an hour and then, when it was their dinner time, I left and got home to my dinner--Cream of Broccoli Soup with crackers, pasta with Russian Salad--while I watched a great action movie, Bastille Day with Idris (Luther) Elba. My brother Russel would have enjoyed it--all dishoom, dishoom! Great edge of the seat excitement and a plot that was good (although a wee bit corny in parts). Plus, it is set in Paris! What's not to love?
     It was time to call it a night after a very fruitful day. I have a lot of transcribing to do plus two presentations to prepare (conference at University of Nagpur and Fulbright Conference in Cochin), a grant application to complete, a lot of email correspondence to tackle...I have decided to keep next week interview-free so that I can catch up on pending items on my To-Do List.
     Until tomorrow...