A cross-border collaboration

Curated by Jane Borges Nidhi Lodaya Mitali Parekh and Armand Joseph ColacoTo explore music and cultures beyond borders composer and multiinstrumentalist Bonny Abraham has started a band called the Bonny Abraham Ensemble His debut track and its music video was released on June 21 on the occasion of World Music Day This instrumental song features Sinem Hondroglu who is part of the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism and Istanbul State Modern Folk Music Ensemble He plays a Turkish woodwind instrument ney Abraham is known to be one of the few Indians who specialises in playing the Arab oud and the Turkish saz instruments The video which shows the sixpiece band with their exotic instruments such as handpan oud saz ney daf and barbuka has been shot by Illickal Kallu in KottayamAll streaming platformsBack to the classroom with George SaundersPICWIKIPEDIAWhile it might be a delight to read Booker Prizewinning author George Saunders of the Lincoln in the Bardo fame itrsquos also an absolute treat to listen to him Even better attending a master class by him Saunders who has for many years been teaching a class on the Russian short story to his MFA students at the Syracuse University had last year published A Swim in a Pond in the Rain an extension of his lectures series He looked at seven short stories by Russian authors Anton Chekhov Ivan Turgenev Leo Tolstoy and Nikolai Gogol and offered a deeper exploration into what makes their fiction so powerful The audio book is narrated by Saunders himself with stories read by Phylicia Rashad Nick Offerman Glenn Close Keith David Rainn Wilson BD Wong and Reneacutee Elise Goldsberry It is a brilliant experience for students of literature and creative writers as well He breaks down the short story page by page unfolding the many layers of storytelling from character and setting to plot and movement of the narrative This one empowers you with tools to tell a good storyaudibleinA song a dayCitybased ambient music artist Sugam Khetan has undertaken a new project Releasing a new song every day for 365 days Khetan who has previously released music under the monikers of 4lienetic and 2 AM is already more than 60 songs deep into the project Released under the name Maybe Itrsquos Only Us all the numbers fit within Khetanrsquos interpretation of ambient music influenced in turns by noise and drone The project is an interesting experiment in seeing an artist being forced to produce new content every day and the results are often surprisingmdashsome tracks spill out of the generally accepted parameters of their genre The mood is decidedly brooding and the soundscapes seem sprawling yet most songs fall within the fiveminute mark There is still much to come with 10 months left in this yearlong project You can keep up on Soundcloud Bandcamp and the projectrsquos Instagram and YouTube pagesChew tree sapUnable to pass by anything weird looking without trying it out this square cardboard pack of Gud Gum R90 caught our attention at a hip Bandra cafe Assuming it was jaggery that put the ldquogudrdquo in the gum we turned the pack over to find that tree sap was used to make this chewing gum which also claims to be sugarfree plasticfree and vegan It comes in four flavoursmdashcharcoal spearmint raspberry strawberry and lemon each pack contains about 15 pellets We tried the first two flavours and while the gum is satisfyingly chewy the flavour runs out pretty quickly leaving you masticating like a cow Still itrsquos a good hispter alternative to the usual chewing gumAvailable at Greenr Cafe BandraFrom the Seven Sisters with loveBuy directly from the artisans of Northeast India with Connecting NER CNER and their unique home deacutecor items made using five raw materials namely cane bamboo kauna reeds water hyacinth and elaichi stem Kauna reed is a grasslike plant found abundantly in Manipur and is used to make anything from mats to hats to bags by the locals Water hyacinth is a freefloating aquatic plant also known as ldquoterror of Bengalrdquo due to its invasive growth tendenciesThe systems of this plant are used to make home deacutecor items such as lampshades planters trays coasters cushion covers tissue boxes table linens and much more The site hopes to open Northeast India to the world through its indigenous heritage crafts The products start from Rs 1000connectingnercom