Last weekend I experienced something new musically. It was a fusion of Western and Indian classical music. Called “Meri Sakhi Ki Avaaz (My Sister’s Voice)” by Reena Esmail, it featured a classically trained Western singer and a classically trained Indian singer. The piece symbolizes the power of sisterhood beyond the limits of family relations.
For twenty glorious minutes I felt myself transported someplace new. Hearing the two cultures bounce off each other I had an appreciation of the different styles. Western music, with its structure, matched the more freely flowing tonality of the Indian singer. And yet, they were able to come together in harmonious ways, sharing and exchanging phrases and rhythms. Towards the end, it’s hard to tell where one line begins and ends. Both both singers have absorbed pieces of the other.
With all the miserable things happening in the world, tensions rising between countries, a maniac running the United States, and bizarre weather patterns, I found this a powerful antidote. Sometimes I find myself caught up in the ways technology makes a mess of things. The list stretches to include misinformation, viral disinformation, and cyber bullying. Then there’s the ever present threat of AI’s ever expanding uses in new and terrible ways. But on the flip side, technology made it possible to record and post this piece of music, without which, it may not have been discovered where I live.
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