The year is 2079 and cultures are nearing extinction. An out-of-work cultural cyborg — along with her motley crew of artistes — attempts to preserve and revive age-old traditions with the help of futuristic technology, which is often viewed as an antithesis of the past. Had a hard time imagining it, didn’t you?
This week, Bengaluru is all set to witness Hyderabad-based music producer Murthovic (Murthy) and multi-disciplinary ar tist Thiruda (Avinash Kumar) as they unravel this story through their live electronica performance Elsewhere in India. The Carnatic music-meets-electronic music-meets-AI art performance looks at the future of South Asian heritage through the explosive evolution of media technologies like video games. It emerged as a by-product of India’s first cultural adventure video game Antara, currently in production by Antariksha Studio. Aimed to explore the concept of ‘AI for Cultural Good,’ the presentation has reimagined the use of archival sound to explore connections between the hyper-modern, local, folk and classical music, by collaborating with artistes from across genres. Ahead of its performance at the AI arts festival FutureFantastic, Avinash and Murthovic let us in on their upcoming performance in the city, the challenges they’ve come across while creating this magnum opus and more...
Tell us about your upcoming performance in Bengaluru?
Avinash: Ours will be the opening performance at FutureFantastic, a forum that brings together conversations around new technolo- gies and their social consequences. The show will be presented for a sit-down audience, as a live-cinema experience. This is different from how we usually present it — for a dancing and standing audience. Thus, we’ve adapted it to include more storytelling elements and explanations.
Futuristic music is usually heavy on synth sound, metal overtones and the likes. But your music in the performance will also use natural sounds like the patter of rain and Indian instruments. How did you come up with this idea?
Murthovic: While doing field recordings on a rainy day, one does come across downpours worth documenting! We’ve used them when the story has asked for it, like in the game where a character is in a rainy environment. Something is invoked, when there is minimal usage of synths and inorganic sounds. The role of Indian instruments is also connected to the performing arts that are slowly disappearing.
How did collaborating with folk artistes affect the music in this performance?
Murthovic: We discovered that the folk palette has richness from the geography and subculture of the people who practise the art form. Not bound by the rules of the classical world, folk music transcends to the truth of the people. That helped us set the mood for the sound in our story.
What message do you want to give through this performance?
Murthovic: We want to talk about a hopeful future — one where life is thriving — and step away from the usual narratives of a dystopian future. Our story is not without conflict but they are always resolved with collaborations. We aim to rebuild society, blending age-old traditions with futuristic technologies.
Register ahead. Tonight, 8 pm. At BIC, Domlur.
Email: prattusa@newindianexpress.com
Twitter: @MallikPrattusa