Discovering new paths towards creating cross-cultural contemporary music…
The
GRAND FINALE CONCERT of SAMUR III will be held on
31st August 2019, 7.00 pm at
Goethe-Institut Auditorium.
This upcoming summer, the Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Chennai in cooperation with
K M Music Conservatory will be launching the 3rd
South
Asian
MUsic
Residency,
SAMUR III 2019.
After two successful music residencies in 2016 and 2017, SAMUR re-emerges with a new batch of 12 musicians, composers, improvisers and performers from Germany and the South Asian region who will be selected and invited this summer to come together for two weeks in Chennai for a unique creative musical collaboration.
The
South
Asian
MUsic
Residency (SAMUR)
encourages its participants to share ideas, perform each other's works, and write music for one another, while exploring their own musical vision and broadening their artistic and cultural horizons.
Basis and core of this collaboration is the
ability to improvise and
share ideas existing in all genres of music. Open-minded musicians and composers from different backgrounds will collaborate in this cross-cultural venture.
The SAMUR - call is intended for
professional musicians with improvisation skills and the ability to play and develop music with others. This is an important prerequisite for the residency.
This unique music residency
explores possibilities for
cross-cultural exchange on practice and theory of
contemporary music composition in different countries, relation between traditional and contemporary music and
challenges of various genres and styles, capacity-building, interaction of emerging and experienced musicians and composers in South-Asia, presentation of new compositions and
ideas for collaborative projects in the future and to strengthen the
networking of festivals, institutions and individualists / free-lancers in the region with Germany.
A special feature of this music residency, SAMUR, is the presentation of public performances during and at the conclusion of the residency, thus sharing some of the participants’ collaborative work with the public.
The Directors of SAMUR III 2019 will be German composer and Saxophone player
Roger Hanschel (who was also a curator of SAMUR II in 2017) and Indo-German composer, Drummer and Percussionist
Ramesh Shotham. Both these internationally well-known musicians are experts in their own music styles, well-experienced in cross-cultural contemporary musical ventures and much sought after by the new generation experimental musicians. Both musicians have received the prestigious German WDR Jazz Award 2018, Hanschel in the category ‘Improvisation’ and Shotham in the category ‘Music Cultures’.
Roger Hanschel
After beginning his musical education at a young age, he began to play the saxophone at 11. He developed a fascination for jazz, improvised music and at 14 founded his first group to realize his musical visions. He studied Saxophone at the Cologne Music Academy. Hanschel is a member of the Kölner Saxophon Mafia since 1987 which has received 4 German Record Prizes as well as the SWR Jazz Prize. Since 2007 he has been performing solo concerts throughout Europe and released his first complete solo CD in March 2011. In addition Hanschel is frequently called upon for cross-culture collaborations. In 2014 he founded the group Trio Benares with Indian musicians and their CD "Assi Ghat" won the "Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik.” Since 2010 he teaches saxophone at the Musikhochschule in Cologne. He has released 38 CDs.
Ramesh Shotham
Ramesh Shotham was born in Madras, South India. He began his musical career as a self-taught drummer, co-leading a Rock band called Human Bondage. In 1970 the band established itself in Bombay, Bangalore and all over the Subcontinent. After that Ramesh took up study of the Tavil (a traditional temple music drum). This extended his repertoire to other classical percussion instruments, like Ghatam, Mridangam, Kanjira and Morsing. Since 1981, Shotham has lived and worked in Europe, is recognized as one of the most successful percussionists around and has performed not only with leading European and American Jazz and Rock musicians, but also with artistes from Africa, Australia, China, Korea and several Arabic countries. Shotham has recorded over 120 LPs and CDs and has worked for almost all the leading TV and Radio stations in Germany and Europe. His most recent work has been as guest percussionist with the WDR Big Band and Wolfgang Niedecken of BAP fame.
This year, for the second time Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan will be collaborating with A R Rahman’s
K M Music Conservatory, who will be the cultural partner for SAMUR III, by offering their institution as the venue with world-class infrastructure, where the creative working sessions of contemporary music-making of the entire residency will take place. An added advantage will be the possibility of interacting with the international faculty, students of music and sound production and ARR’s Sunshine Orchestra, which would be an enriching experience for SAMUR musicians, a perfect inter-cultural exchange through music beyond borders. It is hoped that the highlight of this collaboration could be a direct interaction with the world renowned music composer A R Rahman, the founder of KMMC.
On behalf of KMMC, the official coordinators and musical collaborators for SAMUR will be:
Dr Adam J Greig, a pianist specializing in early-twentieth-century French repertoire who has performed as a soloist or accompanist at international conferences. His secondary area of performance is contemporary electro-acoustic performance. Since 2012 Adam has been the Academic Coordinator of KM Music Conservatory in Chennai, responsible for overseeing and developing the curriculum, teaching practices and activities at the institution. In this role he has been responsible for many of the diverse global interactions of the institution sustaining long-term projects. At KMMC Adam has directed numerous performances and ensembles.
Dr James Bunch is a composer, performer, conductor, educator, and concert organizer.
He has written music for a number of ensembles and has been performed throughout North and South America, Asia, and Europe. At the KMMC in Chennai he leads both the Composition Department and the Diploma Program and started a new Music Scratch Orchestra called Hundred Foot Road. H.F.R. is a collective of student and faculty performers / composers that focuses on electroacoustic works, theatre pieces, live film scores, improvisation, and score-based performances in a broad array of musical styles and genres. They have also brought the music of Phillip Glass, Terry Riley, John Cage, Olivier Messiaen and others to Chennai audiences.
SAMUR III will take place from
18th August to 01st September 2019 in Chennai in collaboration with A R Rahman’s K M Music Conservatory and
is now open for applications from professional musicians, performers, improvisers and composers from Germany, India, Afganistan, Bangladesh, Iran, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Arrival date is
18th August and Departure date is
01st September 2019.
Participants selected by the Jury will be provided travel costs, accommodation and per diem totalling to 600,-€. by Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Chennai.
All selected participants are committed to remain for the duration of the entire residency.
Begin
the journey of arriving at SAMUR III by questioning yourselves:
What does improvisation and contemporary composition mean to me?
In which contexts are new works composed?
What is the relation between the tradition and the present?
What are the challenges for contemporary expressions and fusions?
Those selected participants, who reach SAMUR III, will be asked to present the music scenario in their countries and to reflect upon their own role in it. Furthermore there will also be external interactions with musical experts and groups in the form of workshops and spontaneous music-making sessions, etc.
From its first edition, SAMUR has been a project that has not only created a long-lasting relationship with a wider network of musicians, but has also a sustained effect on all the participant musicians leading them to venture into experimental music projects across the globe.
Participating Musicians of SAMUR III
BEHNAM MASOUMI – Percussion (IRAN)
CALVIN LENNIG – Bass (GERMANY)
HARI SARAN GURUNG – Guitar (NEPAL)
HARINI PADMANABHAN – Vocal (Bangalore, INDIA)
JULIA BRÜSSEL – Violin (GERMANY)
MILAN GHIMIRE – Flute (NEPAL)
NISHAD PANDEY – Guitar (GERMANY / INDIA)
PURANJAY GUHA – Shree-Taar (Kolkata, INDIA)
SABRIN ZAHAN KRITI – Vocal (BANGLADESH)
SHAYEKH MOHAMMAD ARIF – Electronics (BANGLADESH)
TRITHA SINHA – Vocal (New Delhi, INDIA)
VINAYAK NETKE – Tabla (Mumbai, INDIA)
The
GRAND FINALE CONCERT of
SAMUR III will be held on
31st August 2019,
7.00 pm at
Goethe-Institut Auditorium.
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