Mantra: Eastern prayer calls and Latin Mass

09/11/2009. A lofty, eastern call to prayer soars out over the harmonic resonance of a Latin choral mass. The voice swells into the vast inner space, without score or amplification. Our spirits rise with the mantra.
Friday night’s performance of Mantra brought together eastern and western religious song, in one melody, in a church in the heart of Brighton. The blend was at times mesmerising, at times inspirational. The pure sound of the human voice can transcend our human reality. How fitting to marry the sacred music from east and west, in this time of conflict.
Mostly, this experiment in musical fusion was enchanting, as in songs like Tabla Tallum. At times, the marriage seemed a little forced, as in Bhangara Limo, where Latin chant is set to Bhangara beat.
Mantra is a collaboration between the Orlando Consort singers, and three British Asian musicians: Kuljit Bhamra, a pioneer of the Bhangara phenomenon, Jonathon Mayer on sitar, and Shahid Khan, a singer of the Patiala Gharana (a Gharana is a musical tradition under a guru). The BREMF singers provided massed choral support.
The performance took place in the large, austere, brick-vaulted St Bartholomew’s Church. The church, the audience in their winter fleeces, the eastern musicians in dark robes, with sitar and tabla drums, and the ranks of choral singers, were a visual spectacle.
At one point, fireworks lit up the stained glass rose above a giant painting of a crucified Christ, which hangs between towering organ pipes from the southern facade of the cavernous church.
Many of the hundred or so audience took advantage of the £5 floor seating. Those were probably the best seats, anyway, being right in front of the performers.
The event was friendly and accessible, with performers and audience mingling after the encore. The church was warm enough, and there was a temporary bar, serving red and white wine by the glass.
During breaks in the performance, Kuljit Bhamara talked about the tabla drum and the gharana system of musical training, while Angus Smith talked about the inspiration for Mantra.
The PA system in the church echoed. This echoing didn’t affect the music, which wasn’t amplified, but it did make it hard to follow the talking parts. Some of the lights were too bright from where I sat. The fireworks were part of bonfire night, and might have interfered with the BBC’s recording of the event, but none of this seriously damaged my enjoyment.
Mantra was performed on Friday November 6, one of a series of concerts in the Brighton Festival of Early Music (BREMF) concerts. BREMF’s next event will be the Christmas Vespers, Saturday 5th December, 7:30 pm, in Saint Barts. Church.
More info www.bremf.org.uk
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Red House during Brighton's White Night

Don’t be alarmed: no buildings were harmed during the making of this blog. I took the photo during Brighton's White Night Festival on 23 October 2009. Animated images were projected onto the Unitarian Church in the centre of town. The image of a red, blood-like substance flowing over a symbol of classical civilisation seems an appropriate motif for my journalistic voyage, capturing as it does the contradiction of pure ideal and messy reality, inherent in the media, and in our society as a whole.

Musicbus

Musicians will perform live on Brighton and Hove's No. 7 Bus this Friday, 9 October, in advance of the World Sacred Music Festival which commences this weekend. A special service will use an iconic “Routemaster” to pick up passengers on the No. 7 bus route from Hove to Brighton Marina. Performances will include performances Gospel singing to solo violin.

“We wanted to bring the Festival in a surprising way to people who might not normally experience it,” says Kate Whyman, artistic director. “Brighton has a very popular bus service, so this seemed a great opportunity.”

"The Festival is going ahead despite a funding crunch," says Whyman. "For the first time, the Festival has been refused funding by the Arts Council and Brighton & Hove City Council, despite meeting their criteria. Undaunted, the organisers are doing all they can to make up the shortfall, including a hundred-mile sponsored walk along the South Downs Way."

World Sacred Music Festival runs from 10-18 October 2009. Highlights include: Catalan Gypsy band Tekameli from Perpignan; Indian sitar maestro Kartik Seshadri; kora virtuoso Seckou Keita with his international quintet; Zimbabwean ‘Queen of Mbira’ Stella Chiweshe; and Brazil’s Marlui Miranda, the world’s leading exponent of indigenous Amazonian music. The festival attracted more than 3,000 people last year, say organisers.
 
For more info: http://www.worldsacredmusic.org

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