Quawwali Concert at the British Council

This evening Ruairi, Theo FS, Alvaro and I were fortunate to be invited to attend a quawwali concert at the British Council in the centre of Delhi. It took us a while to get there in the taxi from Gurgaon, but it was definitely worth the journey. Quawwali is a form of devotional singing accompained by a band of instruments, including the tabla, harmonium and some others we did not recognise. In this particular concert there was even an alto saxophone, though I had never heard one played this way before!

The atmosphere at this Indian classical concert was very different to classical concerts in the West. It is much more informal, with the performers sitting on the floor cross-legged and barefoot. This creates a greater sense of intimacy between performer and audience and enables dialogue to take place, with the solo singer and audience sharing many jokes, which sadly we were not able to appreciate. It was still fascinating to watch, as the soloist and leader of the group sang speeches, gesturing dramatically with his hands and many facial expressions. From time to time, members of the audience would pass him a note detailing their musical requests in order to challenge his ability, though of course he was able to perform them all with great skill. He demonstrated a fascinating vocal technique whereby he imitated the sound of the foot-bells worn by dancers using his mouth. In this as well as his singing he showed tremendous range of expression and great ability to communicate.

We also noticed the hierarchy in the group denoted by the type of hat worn by the musicians. The more exquisite and decorative the hat, the more important the role played by the musician.

Afterwards we enjoyed drinks in the courtyard of the British Council where we hope to stage our WAM Extravagam.

We are all very grateful to Rebecca Chettri who made it possible for us to attend, and to countless others who have made our visit very pleasant so far, with their kind hospitality and limitless generosity.

Now time to enjoy the rest of the weekend before we start work in our schools next week - cant wait!

Hannahx