KOCHI: The dais at Kerala Museum resembled a typical Indian music concert venue. On its left, was Arunava Mukerjee, playing the tabla. On the right end was Rohan Dasgupta on sitar. In the middle was Emilio Bezzi, a brown-haired Italian artist playing an instrument that stood out from the ensemble—a modernised version of the 500-year-old plucked string instrument—the lute. The trio was performing at ‘Beyond Kochi Sounds’, a music programme that brings together sounds from across geographical borders and genres, according to museum director Aditi Zacharias.
He played dance numbers ‘Saltarello’ and ‘Piva’, accompanied by Rohan and Arunava. These songs were composed by Joan Ambrosio Dalza in 1508. Later, Rohan takes the lead and plays an original composition based on the raga Parameshwari, as a tribute to Pandit Ravi Shankar—the genius who put sitar in the international spotlight.
The collaboration between Rohan, Arunava and Emilio happened by accident. In February 2018, Rohan met Emilio at the Italian Institute of Culture in Delhi. To celebrate the 70-year-old relationship between Italy and India, an exhibition of Italian painter Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino’s (Raphael) was also held. “Somebody said it would be nice to have some renaissance music,” said Emilio.
As Emilio was thinking about it, the Institute’s director Andrea Baldi suggested a collaboration with Rohan. When the exhibition moved to Kolkata, Emilio met Rohan at a guest house and they performed together.
“There was an immediate connection,” says Emilio. “We felt we could create something new. There is something common with Indian classical and European renaissance music. Both are based on modality and both our instruments are string-based.”
“If I decide to play Hemavati or Madhuvanthi raga, Emilio finds an equivalent sound. We come from different schools of thought, but Emilio can improvise on the same scale. So we could meet at the middle,” says Rohan.
Emilio’s affinity to Indian music was an added advantage. Thanks to his father, a jazz musician, he came across the records of Pandit Ravi Shankar when he was a teenager. “I have listened to them hundreds of times. In 1996 I attended his concert at the Barbican Centre in London. It was one of the best shows I have attended,” he adds.
The first collaboration between Emilio and Rohan took place in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia in December 2018. According to Rohan, the collaboration was received well by the audience.
It was after this concert that Emilio and Rohan felt that they were missing something. “We needed a body to the music, and felt the need to bring in percussion. Since Emilio preferred the sound of the tabla, we decided to get Arunava on board,” says Rohan.
The duo admits to being traditionalists who don’t make sounds outside their classical repertoire. When asked whether the collaboration has changed them, Rohan says, “When you step out of your school of thought, it gives a wider vision, and you grow as a musician”, as Emilio and Arunava nod in agreement.