French-Italian opera singer and actor Harmonie Deschamps believes in finding links between European and Indian cultures – through music, verses, fables and folk stories. Deschamps, who co-founded the Indo-European artist group Lilanoor Ensemble will present ‘Buried Treasures’, musical tales from India and Europe.
Organised by Alliance Française de Pune, in association with the department of French, Fergusson College (autonomous), the musical theatre performance will be presented in the city at NM Wadi Amphitheatre at 7 pm Sunday (February 5).
The musical show showcases four stories carefully handpicked from the collective Indo-European traditional literature- Harisarman from Panchatantra tales, The Goose and the Golden Egg by Jean de Lafontaine and The snake and the golden coin from Panchatantra tales, Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen and Guptadhan – The Hidden Treasure by Rabindranath Tagore.
“After I conceptualised the idea for Buried Treasures in 2020, I went through several fables and stories from Indian and European cultures. I was surprised to find many similarities in the cultures divided by distance. I shortlisted the stories and the text of the four stories were re-written to fit better with what we had in our mind,” said Deschamps.
A melange of Hindustani classical music, western classical music, European Baroque songs, English and Spanish melodies and Indian and French folk music will be presented by the Delhi-based ensemble’s members Chayan Adhikari on the guitar and vocals, Avik Roy on the percussions and sarod artist Bhanu Sharma alongside Deschamps.
“To add a pinch of magic through a visual element, we got puppeteer and sculptor Mohammed Shameem onboard. The story by Tagore will be presented through the traditional folk theatre form of puppetry and will also include shadow theatre. Meanwhile, we have Farzeen Kapadia illustrate and animate for the Little Match Girl, a projection of which will be coupled with music,” she said.
Deschamps told The Indian Express that as several of her projects with Lilanoor Ensemble are a confluence of cultures, it also is a step towards introducing the audience to whole new cultures and forms of art. “We do keep in mind to be respectful when we improvise and experiment with Indian and European traditions. Our philosophy is to bring our work to larger audiences and let the audience experience and get exposed to a varied range of cultural nuances. For instance, one might not find the opera and the accordion put together, as the former is an elitist classical form of art. Yet, we try to converge the diverse cultures through our projects,” she said.
