Do we humans consciously listen to the slower rhythms of nature — the rustle of leaves, ants using stridulation to send signals, squirrels tapping on a tree bark, buzzing of the bees, and the strategic hissing of leeches as they move closer to a human — amid the man-made sounds that fill our everyday lives. These manufactured sounds, better understood as noise and distraction, have been normalised to the point that we seem to have grown accustomed with them.
An invitation to pause and reflect on nature’s rhythms is the show titled ‘Melodies in Slow Motion’. The production, premiered in Mumbai on Earth Day (April 22), is now finding its tunes played in a studio space in Namma Chennai this weekend. A brainchild of sarod maestro and earth day ambassador Soumik Datta, the show is a performance inspired by nature. “The show is about responding to the frequencies in nature and finding frequencies shared across human and inter-species connections,” notes the musician.
Centered on the concept of trophic cascades, the domino effect triggered by changes in ecosystems, the show seeks to make the invisible rhythms of survival audible to human ears. Soumik has been documenting different ecologies, insects, mangrove forests, eroding coastlines in different parts of India to enrich this project. Recording these worlds, Soumik believes, is a form of audio documentary. He says, “Using field recording is a way of story telling without needing words necessarily. Once you start using this technique, it creates a space that is tethered to the real natural world.”
Each audience member will experience these recordings through headphones with the live instruments that are played by the musicians. “The performance is about turning the audience into a choir and creating a communal space,” adds Soumik. Some of the field recordings include the flutter of a wing, the pulse of a cell stretched into a cinematic soundscape, bees’ dance on the heads of sunflowers, slow-motion journey of insects recorded by musician and sound designer Rahul Nandkarni.
The sound is accompanied by thought-provoking visuals. Sketches by children from Pratham Creativity Clubs, an initiative to foster creativity in kids, is an intentional move. Soumik notes, “The idea behind incorporating the sketches is to recreate, for an adult audience, what it felt like to be in awe of nature as a child.”
The work was commissioned by the British Council a year ago in collaboration with G5A Mumbai, a home for experimental and independent arts practice. Soumik is backed by a team of young maestros Sumesh Narayanan (mridangam/percussion), Sayee Rakshith (violin), and Debjit Patitundi (tabla) in this project that is brought to life in partnership with ProMusicals and Universal Audio.
With a strong team that has made the idea their own and have worked for a year, Soumik chooses to believe that the show will distract the audience from their phones. “By the end of it, there’s going to be a level of being present in the room,” shares the artiste. Hence, the production is presented to a small gathering of only 40 people sitting in a circle for 70 minutes. The four sessions will be recorded and released to the public soon.
“If the audience leave feeling a bit more connected to the people in the room and connected to things that they might not have thought about in a while, that would be great,” concludes Soumik, returning to the sound of cicadas survival in the wild.
‘Melodies in Slow Motion’ will be performed twice a day on May 21 and 22 at the Offbeat Music Ventures.