Dialogue between a voice and two bamboo mallets - an interview with Omkar Havaldar

Abstract

This paper complements another published article of mine titled, A Hongkonger in Bangalore - Travelling with Two Bamboo Mallets, in which I wrote about the concept of home viewed through the performance practices of musicians, and how a musical work can be a representation of the trace of a movement, of a journey. In 2011 and 2014, I was a Research Fellow in Performance Studies at the International Research Centre Interweaving Performance Culture, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany. My residence at the research centre in Berlin had a significant impact on my approach on intercultural dialogues from the view of a practicing musician, and provided the theoretical framework on interweaving performances and cultures. As an extension to that article published by the research centre in Germany, this paper is the record of an interview in 2019 between me and one of the singers in the Saath-Saath project, Omkar Havaldar. Omkar is a Hindustani classical vocalist based in Bangalore and trained in the Kirana, Jaipur-Atrauli, and Agra gharanas4. The interview summarises our exchange of ideas on musical traditions across cultures through our collaboration. It is also a dialogue exploring the differences in musical practices between Omkar as a vocalist and myself as an instrumentalist.