As the French artists group Collectif Passages took the audience at Alliance Francaise on a musical trip recently, it was proven once again that ‘music knows no boundaries’ indeed.
Collectif Passages from Strasbourg presented ‘A Long Journey to Reach the Land of the Traveller’ as part of the Indo-French cultural festival Pondy Partages, being organised by the Alliance Francaise here in association with the Department of Tourism.
The musical play was based on the Persian poem, The Conference of the Birds, which talks of a journey by birds from all over the world to find the mythical bird, ‘Simorgh.’ With cut-outs of birds and mythical creatures adorning the stage and creative use of lighting, the mood was set for the audience to be transported into a magical world. The artists then took to the stage with French, English and traditional Tamil music. Mixing independent language sets with combination sets where the guitar chords blended effortlessly with the beat of the tabla, and where the notes of the ‘raaga’ harmonised with French melodies, the acts had the audience joining in with claps and snapping their fingers.
