The Event:
On November 29, 2006, after 3 days of rehearsals, two Bulgarian and two Indian musicians performed in front of an international audience at the Alliance Francaise of Delhi. It was a different concert - a unique combination of Indian instruments - tabla, sarod and western instruments - bassoon, guitar, synthesizers to play a range of diverse compositions based on Indian ragas, Bulgarian folklore, jazz moods and contemporary rhythms.
The positive emotional response of the audience encouraged the artists in their creative experiment and supported them to continue their exploration in the future!
The story behind it:
Marina and Rupesh met three years ago in Delhi and they promised each other to play together one day! Then he left for Mumbai to continue his musical career as a Sarod player and she stayed in Delhi, studying Indian classical music in Gandarva Mahavidyalaya.
The dream came true! Marina invited her friend, colleague and supporter from the beginning of her musical steps on stage, Nikolai Ivanov - composer, multi- instrumentalist and painter with deep interest in musical traditions from all over the world. Rupesh invited his brother Rakesh Kumar - a disciple of the late Ustad Allarakha Khan and of the tabla maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain.
The Project was born out of improvisation and at the same time deep research through Western, Indian classical music, jazz, fusion and different folk traditions.
Despite the differences in their musical education and cultural background, Marina, Nikolai, Rakesh and Rupesh came together to share their love for music and the closeness they discovered between themselves. There are no borders in music and spiritual experience!
Music arises out of the silence…it is an united action between vital air and vital, pure breath and energy! It is universal! In space there are no Ragas, moods or scales! It is just music!
The artists:
Marina Velikova- bassoon player, graduated from the Bulgarian National Academy of Music. A winner of several awards in music. Participated in many projects and CD releases as a bassoon and soprano saxophone player. She has worked for ten years as musical editor in The Bulgarian National Radio. She has long-lasting interest in ethnic music all over the world with an emphasis on improvisation characteristic of eastern musical tradition. This interest brought her to India in 2003. Supported by The Indological Foundation East-West at present she is an ICCR student of Indian Classical Music in Gandarva Mahavidyalaya, New Delhi.
Rakesh Kumar - tabla player a disciple of the late Ustad Allarakha Khan, and of Ustad Zakir Hussain. Winner of the Best Tabla Player Award at Sanskar Bharatvidia Bhavan in 1994-95, registered in The Guinness Book of World records 2004 and 2006 for his 25 and 36 hours non-stop tabla playing and 2006 for his 50 hours non-stop playing with his group Tapasya he currently teaches at the Allarakha Institute of music, he is also actively involved in the Indian Education Society and performs live concerts with his band Tapasya. He has also graced Doordarshan Sahyadri, (DD-10) - Mumbai.
Rupesh Kumar - sarod player, taught by Pandit Biswajit Roy Choudry. At present he has been sharing his skills at the Indian Education Society since 2006, teaching at the KingGeorgeCollege - Mumbai, he is also composer and active performer in Tapasya Band, registered in The Guinness Book of World record for his 50 hours non-stop playing in 2006. He has also graced Doordarshan Sahyadri, (DD-10) - Mumbai.
Nikolay Ivanov – multi instrumentalist, composer, painter, performer. Graduated from The Academy for Fine Arts, Sofia, Bulgaria. He started playing in various groups in the early 80’s. In 1991 he set up OM art formation. His aim was to create synthetic music conveying specific spiritual and meditative vibrations, and hence he use of the ”OM” superior mantra as the name of the formation. Thus he gave expression to his belief about the inevitable synthesis of ideas from the East and the West. Member of Union of Bulgarian Artists and MUSICAUTHOR society since 1993 |
