A group of blindfolded musicians will have to rely on their instincts at a concert in SoBo
The Blind Orchestra plays live, with a conductor on the extreme right
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When a group of people make live improvisational music together, there are a lot of visual clues they send out on stage to keep the harmony intact. For instance, a trumpeter can simply turn to the guitarist as a signal for the latter to begin a solo. Or, the bassist can give the drummer a nod indicating that it's time for the two of them to step up and start a jam. Of course, if there is a conductor controlling the proceedings, then he or she uses an array of intricate hand and head movements to give structure to a composition. But what if all the musicians are playing blindfolded? What if it's only the conductor who has the luxury of sight? It's a totally different ball game then, as the audience at a performance by Blind Orchestra will find out.
Dov Balu Rosen
Conceptualised by Israeli travelling musician Dov "Balu" Rosen, Blind Orchestra involves a few basic rules. "When the conductor gives a [blindfolded] musician one touch, he plays. When he gives him another touch, he stops," Rosen explains, adding, "If it's on the head, that's for singing, vocal harmony, beatboxing, etc. And if it's on the body, it's for the instruments. But if there are two sticks touching a musician together, that means the conductor is asking him to take the lead and control the sound."
In that sense, he continues, the role of the conductor is like that of an artist. "If he thinks, 'Okay, I now need to use the colour yellow,' he has to ask himself, 'Where can I use it best?' So, it's about filling the musical gaps with the right instruments and trying to work with what you have. There is a lot of control involved, and also a lot of responsibility, because sometimes it's possible that even the best musicians get stuck, and it's the job of the conductor to find a way out. That's why a good conductor also has to be a good listener," Rosen tells us.
As for the musicians, he says, they have zero idea about what they are going to play on the day of a concert. "It's totally improvised, with no real training at all. We meet a day before a performance, but I don't call it a 'rehearsal'. It's a 'preparation plan'. And it's mostly about getting the musicians comfortable playing blindfolded and understanding what the concept is about. It's basically like football. You don't know where the ball will be at any one particular point, but you still practise dribbling, don't you?" he adds.
Furthermore, the seven to eight musicians who typically make up each ensemble keep changing with every concert. Blind Orchestra has performed in various cities around the world, such as London, Berlin and St Petersburg. Every time, Rosen picks and chooses from a bank of musicians he has been compiling since 2013, which is when he first came up with this concept. "It's like, I have been a musician for many years in Tel Aviv. So whenever we play there, I ask the best musicians who are available to join us. And in Mumbai, I count a lot on [bassist] Manas Chowdhary. He knows a lot of people here and always finds the right musicians. Usually, there is at least one person in the ensemble who is familiar with this concept. The others just go with the flow," the Israeli artiste says.
So, is there any message that he is trying to send out with this process of playing blindfolded? Rosen ponders this question silently for a bit. He then answers, "Yes, I think there is one. It's about cooperation and teamwork, without which this wouldn't be possible. So, there is a message of unity. And I explore it musically. But if you are a businessman, you might connect with this message and think out of the box about making your directors work as one team. You can thus make them not fight with each other, but fight for each other. And that's important in any sphere of life."
On: Tonight, 9 pm onwards
At: The Quarter, Royal Opera House, Mathhew Road, Girgaum.
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Entry: '749
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