New sounds in the haveli

For artists, inspiration can come from anywhere. When Pen Pal, a two-member Indo-French duo, comprising musicians Sharad Joshi from Delhi and Louise Calzada from Paris, exchanged a photograph in 2022, it marked the beginning of their musical correspondence.

“As we were in different countries, it felt necessary for us to invent a process to compose together. I sent a picture of a doll-house on fire, with someone looking at it burning,” shares Calzada as Joshi chimes in, “I shared a picture of a friend where her face was zoomed into, not fully visible but a lot of character is visible through her eyes. The idea was to create anything”. This led them to create the song ‘La Potrait’ in 2023.

The fact that they were exchanging “musical letters” led them to name the band Pen Pal. They are currently working on their first LP consisting of songs that combine French and Hindi music culture both in lyrics and a poetic use of images to be performed in Delhi today as part of the first edition of ‘Music In The Haveli’ at the Kathika Cultural Centre.

Meet the pals

Joshi is an Indian music, composer, producer, and sound designer who is trained in Hindustani classical music since the age of 18. He has been influenced by global musicians like AR Rahman, Portuguese singer and songwriter MARO, and Cameroon-born American musician Richard Bona. He has worked in films, web series, advertisements, and podcasts as a music director and sound designer. However, just working for commercials began to “tire” him.

“I felt stuck being isolated in the studio for hours and making music was starting to feel more like a job. I started going for folk music residencies to try and get back in touch with classical music and meet like-minded people,” he tells us on attending several music residencies around the globe in France, Belgium, Portugal and Spain from 2022.

“I am most comfortable with classical and pop and have been exploring folk and world music recently,” he adds.

Calzada, on her part, grew up in the suburbs of Paris developing a similar love for music, travel and meeting diverse people. She has learnt jazz guitar, opera singing and produced electronic music.

“I am influenced by women like Colombian experimental musician Lucrecia Dalt, American singer and songwriter Julia Holter, American composer Holly Herndon and PWakistani-American singer and composer Arooj Aftab. They experiment to create music that’s rooted in their cultural heritage,” she says.

Calzada has participated in several music residencies, much like Joshi. “My first traditional music residency was in Brazil in 2018. It invited musicians from all around the world. In two weeks, every participant had to share a song from the culture they represent and learn tunes from others. That was a beautiful introduction to different musical traditions. I also attended residencies in South and Eastern Europe where I learnt about traditional French music.”

Rooted and futuristic

The idea for ‘Music In The Haveli’ was conceived by Shruti Sinha, a policy and development sector professional and Joshi during a heritage walk at Kathika in 2024.

“By the end of the walk, we were so inspired by the way Kathika haveli was reimagined that we were ready to start something of our own,” shares Sinha adding, “so much of our music, dance and poetry has come from the mehfils that were held in havelis which makes it a great choice. ‘Music In The Haveli’ is more than just a musical show, it’s about reviving the ‘rivaz of khaatirdaari’.”

On the new generation of “experimental” groups like Pen Pal, she says, “both Joshi and Calzada are rooted in their traditional music but are constantly innovating and experimenting with other musical traditions, and instruments to create new and original work. It’s very similar to what ‘Music In The Haveli’ is doing - we are rooted in tradition, but trying to do something futuristic.”