Harmonies without borders

The uplifting crescendos and heartbreaking lulls in a good piece of music are said to do what no spoken language can — unite people in a shared emotion and be a reminder of the joys, sorrows and heartbreaks we share as human beings, regardless of national or linguistic barriers. Voices of the World, by the Bangalore Broadway Company, is set to do exactly this with a cappella renditions of folk songs from all over the world.

Performing Eastern European, African, Afro-Cuban, Russian, Indian and Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) folk music in languages like English, Bulgarian, Russian, Japanese, Xhosa and Yoruban, the group aims to introduce Bengalureans to the vast diversity of folk music worldwide. “The African pieces that we do will be a lot more peppy, some of the Bulgarian pieces have a very mysterious quality to them and the Russian pieces have a little more of a melancholic tint to them.

So you will experience all of these different emotions from different regions,” says Sowmya Raghavan, the director of the group. Consisting of singers Anisha Chandy, Deepa Jacob and Nora Alexy alongside Sowmya, the group’s sound is rooted in folk traditions, with a focus on vocals. Keyboard, classical guitar and drum sounds by Siddharth Suresh, Varun Krishna and Sanket Chakravorty provide backing for the vocals.

“Because the music is folk or folk-inspired — the sounds will be natural, raw and earthy, with harmonies that you may not be used to if you listen to English songs,” says Sowmya.

Before every song, the group shares the story behind it, tracing its roots and conveying its cultural context. “The intention is to introduce audiences to newer forms of music because these are not songs you would typically listen to daily. With the pieces that we do, the listener gets a little bit of context and insight into that particular culture,” says Sowmya.

She admits that learning songs in languages so different from Indian languages and English can be a challenge, but the group tries its best to retain authenticity. “We don’t want to sound gimmicky in each language,” says Sowmya. “There are some languages specifically which are a little difficult and very different.

For example, if we’re doing a song from the South African language, Xhosa, the ‘x’ is not a letter but a click sound. We listen to the lyrics carefully and if we can connect with someone who speaks the language, we’ll run through the lyrics with them and get feedback,” she says.

INR 500. November 10, 7.30 pm. At Jagriti Theatre, Whitefield.

Written by: Mahima Nagaraju