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A UK-based musician brings his unique multi-sensory performance to Mumbai
Updated On: 09 January, 2024 07:23 AM IST | Mumbai | Devashish Kamble
A UK-based musician brings his unique multi-sensory performance with the sarod as the centrepiece, and uses it to explore the complexities of the human mind
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Gurdain Singh Rayatt (left) and Datta (right) interact with the audience at a performance in London. Pics Courtesy/Poshali Goel
The French call it jamais vu. It’s the phenomenon of experiencing memories that seem familiar in some fashion, yet novel and unfamiliar in their own way. Should this phenomenon really exist, listening to a sarod’s strings being plucked to create deep, resonant tunes that sound like longing, turmoil and reconciliation all at once would most definitely evoke it. London-based sarod virtuoso Soumik Datta calls the sound “something between a forceful gut punch and a bittersweet memory.” As Datta performs in Mumbai after a decade, with his new project Mone Rekho (Bengali for ‘remember’), he lets us in on the intricacies behind crafting an audio-visual experience using the instrument.
Unlike his listeners, for Datta, the bittersweet memories are no jamais vu. They include leaving behind his childhood home in Mumbai and moving to London with his family when he was 11. “Overnight, my life changed. A new home, new friends, and a new culture. I discovered that we had carried my grandmother’s sarod with us to London. It was a sort of family heirloom. My dad had given me a few lessons, but looking back, I think there was something about the sound of that old instrument that reminded me of India, and the life we had left behind. And that is what drew me to it,” the artiste reveals over an email conversation with this writer.
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