An ensemble of Western and Indian musicians brings Light of Asia, a masterpiece from the silent era, to life with their original soundtrack that will accompany the movie, live
An ensemble of Western and Indian musicians brings Light of Asia, a masterpiece from the silent era, to life with their original soundtrack that will accompany the movie, live
When folks stepped into the cinema hall to watch a silent film, the idea of watching moving pictures on screen was as much of a delight as listening to the orchestra that accompanied it.
That was almost a century ago, when silent films featured full-size orchestras, which helped set the mood of the film. Once the 'talkies' took over, however, orchestras were phased out.
Today, you can travel back in time to experience what it must have felt like to watch movies the good ol' way.
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The concept works like this: the original reel (the only existing copy in the world) is projected on to a cinema screen while six artistes get on stage to perform live music especially composed for the film.
The ensemble includes Riccardo on guitars, Pradeep Barot on sarod, Ganesh Mohan on sitar, Babulal Gandharva on belabahar (a combination of violin and sarangi), Kalinath Mishra on tabla, percussions and vocals, and Rajdeep Barot on tempura.
"From the first to the last minute, we accompany the movie with original music composed by us. We've also created certain spaces in the film on purpose so that we get the freedom to improvise," says Riccardo.
The idea of working with Light of Asia, in particular, was Riccardo's own and was executed for the first time in Europe in 2004.
He chose the 1925 classic, written by Himansu Rai (who also plays the main protagonist) and directed by Franz Osten, a German expatriate, simply because it is "not boring" despite being from another era.
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"I wanted the audience to enjoy not just the musical performance, but also the movie. The movie is capable of keeping you glued to the screen, even today," states Riccardo.
If not for the movie itself, the sheer experience and old-world charm of this event should make it well worth
your while.
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