2002

Wow what a packed and exciting season we had last year. After the season kicked off at the Purcell Room back in March with the Beijing Opera and then Pandit Ram Narayan on the sarangi, 'An evening of Indian classical music' in May, featured a line-up of brilliant UK based instrumental soloists, we haven't stopped.

Collaborations featured strongly in our recent tours, they included our special Desert Music project feat. Afel Bocoum with some of the best musicians from Rajasthan and Mali; traditional dance and music from The Courts of Java ; a unique collaboration explored the musical connections between Greeks and Indians and a new tour with the highly acclaimed saxophanists Kadri Gopalnath and Evan Parker .

The final of these collaborations brought together for the first time the Asian Music Circuit & the African & Caribbean Music Circuit in a major project Africa and India in Conversation with acclaimed Pan African Orchestra from Ghana and the powerful all-women percussion group from India, Stree Shakti.

June saw the first UK tour by the internationally acclaimed group Wai from the South Pacific and July, another first UK tour by a group from Sunda/West Java the Jugala All Stars feat. Sabah Habas Mustapha.

Another focus towards the end of the year was the opening of a two-part series on Music Of The Mystics , presenting the mystical dimensions of music, featuring remarkable and rarely seen groups from India ,Tibet , and China to be continued in 2003.

Continuing with our regular tour programme the Spring of 2003 sees the return of the Uyghur musicians, this time from the Kashgar region. Following the highly successful 2000 tour of the Uyghur musicians from Xinjiang, the AMC is inviting a new group of musicians from this remote corner of Central Asia to perform the Uyghur Twelve Muqam.

MUSIC of the MYSTICS
For the first time the AMC is introducing the concept of a touring series focussing on mystical and ritual music traditions. Music of the Mystics will cover a wide range of groups in two part programmes in fall 2002 and 2003 presenting both well known artists and exciting new discoveries from across Asia.
Music has proven itself as the ideal medium to transmit this "something" of a mystical experience that is essentially felt and not merely conceived through the mind. As a result, devotional poetry was and is sung not only as a way to communicate mystical teachings but also as a means to express one's relationship with the divine through sound.

MUSIC of the MYSTICS: Sidi Goma: Black Sufis of Gujarat (India)

This programme features rarely heard devotional music from India, from a hidden minority with extraordinary history: the Black Sidis from Gujarat, a community of East Africans which came to India seven centuries ago and made Gujarat their home. They carried with them their exceptionally rich musical tradition and kept it alive and flourishing through the generations, unknown to the rest of the world. One traditional occupation of African-Indian Sufis in Gujarat has been to perform sacred music and dance as wandering fakirs, singing songs and performing rituals in the shrines of their black Sufi saint, Bava Gor (Sidi Mobarak Nobi). Their native African music styles, melodic and rhythmic structures, lyrics and musical instruments have mingled with local influences to form this final symbolic representation of African-Indian ness. The AMC is proud to present these extraordinary artists for the first time outside India.

MUSIC of the MYSTICS: Labrang Monastery, Tibet

Labrang Lamasery is a large complex with a breathtaking assembly of golden roofs, which dominates the skyline in the frontier town of Xiahe. Tucked away at the far eastern end of the Tibetan plateau, the monastery lies on the edge of a multi-ethnic town where Tibetans, Han Chinese, the local Muslim Hui and the monks of the Gelugpa sect lend the streets a profusion of colour.
Home to the third most important Lama of Tibetan Buddhism, Labrang was founded in 1709 and has been an important centre for music collection over the centuries. The current ceremonial ensemble involves 22 musician monks playing the full repertory of stately ceremonial music with flutes, cloud gongs, drums and the distinctive sheng mouth organs as well as music for small ensemble (including yangchin dulcimer, flutes and dramnyen lutes) which is played for important visitors like high lamas and officials. Of course the whole group also chants the sutras in that special low resonance found only in Tibet.

top