Biel-Benaras-Bhubaneswar’ - a musical journey

A collaborative performance by Swiss musician Hans Koch and Odissi Dancer Rekha Tandon. [dated December 2008]

A collaborative performance by Swiss musician Hans Koch and Odissi Dancer Rekha Tandon.

Thursday 4 December 2008 at 7:00 pm at Shri Satya Sai Auditorium 8 Pragati Vihar, Lodhi Road, New Delhi In collaboration with the Delhi International Arts Festival

From Biel to Benaras, a journey from order to chaos, from the familiar to the unfamiliar: new thoughts, new ideas, even new dreams…
From Benaras to Bhubaneswar, a further journey, to explore what is unknown and yet shared, a meeting point… A new pulse, a new rhythm of life; perhaps a new way to Be.

Musician Hans Koch leaves behind his ordered urban life in Switzerland to experience the chaotic moods of Benaras, before venturing further east to Orissa. Here he meets Odissi dancer Rekha Tandon who shows him further facets of traditional and contemporary India...

Artists
Hans Koch Bass clarinet/Video
Rekha Tandon Dancer/Choreographer
Michael Weston Audio-visual design/Lighting

Audiovisuals
Singers Sela Bieri, Siba Prasad Rath
Narration Michael Weston, Rekha Tandon
Percussion Sura Maharana

Hans Koch
Hans Koch quit his career as a recognised classical clarinetist to become one of the most innovative improvising reed-players in Europe. He has been working with everyone from Cecil Taylor to Fred Frith since the eighties. As a composer he has shaped the sound of Koch-Schütz-Studer as well as worked for radio-plays and film. Since the nineties he has been working with electronics as an extension of the saxes/clarinets as well as with sampling/sequencing/Laptop. As a reed-player he is always working on his very own vocabulary and sound, which makes him a very unique voice on the actual scene.

Rekha Tandon
Rekha Tandon started her professional career in the arts in 1980 by performing Indian classical Odissi dance, which she has continued to do extensively in different parts of the world. Always pursuing academics simultaneously, she graduated with a BA in architecture from the School of Planning and Architecture in 1985, an MA in History of Art from the National Museum, New Delhi in 1995, and a PhD from Laban, London in Dance Studies in 2005.

Michael Weston
Michael Weston began his professional life in the pop world of London in the 1980’s, before moving on to writing music for both film and television. In India he has promoted and documented Orissan adivasi culture, particularly the music, as well as creating the music and soundscapes for the productions of Dance Routes.

Rekha Tandon and Michael Weston have worked together since 1997 when they founded Dance Routes as a forum for research and experimentation in Odissi. Their vision has been to make this Indian classical dance form more accessible to contemporary audiences worldwide, without compromising its traditional spiritual integrity. Choreographic works have included pieces created for both performance and film using multicultural literary and musical resources.

Pro Helvetia – the Swiss Arts Council facilitated a residency for Rekha Tandon at the Villa Straeuli at Winterthur, Switzerland in May and June 2008. An Odissi dancer, choreographer and scholar, Rekha’s mission is to conserve and present tradition with a contemporary aesthetic. Her innovative productions are created from research of the classical, folk and tribal performing arts of India.