KOCHI: For French musician Sonia Weider Atherton, music is a means to narrate a tale. Performing the cello for the past 40 years, the artiste is in the capital city for an upcoming ‘L’Odyssee de L’Inde’ concert on Friday, as part of the Indo-French cultural exchange festival ‘Bonjour India’.
Sonia’s passion for the cello began at a very young age, despite coming from a family who were never into music. “It was after listening to a recording that I fell in love with the instrument. I later started attending the French Conservatory of Music at Paris and Moscow after school hours.”
She gave her first performance at the age of 14. It was a composition of Vivaldi. Ever since then, her passion for the cello only grew. Sonia uses her cello to narrate stories. “I want to be a storyteller who uses sounds and melodies. While I have performed classical pieces by Bach and other composers who made music for the cello, I also like to experiment beyond the traditional style.” She narrates an example where she brought together different elements of Egyptian and British music under one roof.
Choosing to tell her story through the string instrument, the upcoming concert is no different for Sonia. Her latest performance in the capital will be accompanied by Indian artists, “The Odyssey is a shared voyage- it trails a person’s life from the beginning. It goes through many adventures, peace, fighting and different emotions.”
A musician with a long tryst with the cello, Sonia believes there are a lot of things which make it special. “ The cello makes unique sounds that are much closer to the human voice. The instrument also has a natural feel because horse hair is used in its bow. I like the fact that it is a wooden experiment, which makes it feel natural. It has a bigger range of sounds; you can go very high or even very low.”
The musician has given concerts around the world, including many countries in Europe, United States, China and so on. However, this is her first performance in the country. Sonia has been in the city for a couple of days. “I have already been on a trip around the city, including a few temples here. I feel Thiruvananthapuram is beautiful, green and a very lively city. The people are very open and more connected to one another,” she said.
The music concert will be held at Vyloppilly Samskruthi Bhavan at 6.30 pm. The cello artist will be accompanied by singer and guitar player John Anthony and Akhil J Chand. After the concert in the city, Sonia will be performing in Pune, Bangalore, Delhi and Udaipur before leaving for France.