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| Natraja
is here and that too all the way from France! |
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 Manushri Bahukhandi
In the Indian cosmology,
Natraj, a form of Shiva, dances till the destruction of ignorance is
complete. This dance is known as the Tandava. But for these three
musicians from France known as Natraja XT, this unique group
consists of Pierre Moitram, Richard Bernet and Kapi, it’s only
music.
 If the
name of the French group surprised you then you have to wait till
the time you hear what these musicians actually play. We’ve got
Pierre who played sitar, Richard on sarod and esraj and Kapi who
plays on the computer.
On March 23th The Embassy of France
in India, the Delegation General de l Allaince Fracaise de Paris en
Inde, teamed up to bring this extraordinary trio to New Delhi. As
Richard says, “Our first album the Tandav was a spontaneous one. We
just came around and decided to mix in whatever music we knew.” “But
seeing that Tandava was such a big hit we will definitely put in
much more time and effort.”
But
why the name Natarja XT? “Its simple Pierre said, “When Kapi joined
we had one more person in the group, so we decided to keep the name
XT which means extended.” Though for Pierre and Richard its not for
the first time they are visiting India.
Pierre has studied
Indian sitar from 1972-75 in Paris with professor Pramod Kumar who
was a disciple of Pt Ravi Shankar.. From 1981-83 he wrote a thesis
on North Indian classical music. From 1980 to 1997 he has given
several concerts in France and abroad and he also created an
association called Novaratari in 1987. As for Richard or attimes
known as Rishi he commenced his learning in 1972 in music school of
maestro Ali Akhbar Khan. Richard after returning from US
participated with a group with the group Origine with the Lal Ganesh
trio.
 Richard and Pieere who love Indian musicians say, “There is
so much depth in Indian music that anyone can be drawn towards it.”
They further added that whenever any of the Indian maestro comes to
abroad to play they make it a point to be in that concert.
But what drew them into Indian culture at first? Pierre
says, “When I used to see map of India I used to trace all the roads
leading to India, for me India was always a place associated with
rajas and rani and palaces. But sadly I didn’t see any of this,” he
says laughingly.
 Though
Richard and Pierre have a huge collection of Indian maestros
collection, its Kapi who says “I love rock”. Kapi loves Woodstock
and computer generated music.
Travelling all over India this
year by road, they also visited Ahemdabad where Richard says,
“Though devastation from the earthquake was not that much (in
Ahmedabad) but yes people are definitely scared.”
However
for these trio there’s nothing that can reduce there passion for
India and Indian music. As Richard sums up, “As regards the
difference of classical Indian music, which is in essence melodic
and monotonal, the instruments allow us to enrich our compositions
in harmony and ambience.”
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| Quotes at Closing
Session | |
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36c |
| Chennai |
25c |
37c |
| Delhi |
17c |
34c | | |
