CHICAGO: The University of Chicago’s (UC) South Asian Sound Interventions Series (SASI) hosted a week of events from Feb. 11-16 focused on Bengali music.
According to Prof. Kaley Mason, UC Director of Undergraduate Studies, musicians, activists and scholars from South Asia, Europe, and United States gathered to discuss, perform, and imagine situated alliances, encounters, and mobility affordances in the region spanning Bangladesh, the states of Northeast India, West Bengal and beyond. These events coincide with the opening of a temporary exhibit at the Smart Museum of Art titled “The Sahmat Collective: Art and Activism in India since 1989.”
“Performing the Bengal Borderlands: Music, Movement and Encounter” comprised events with Somjit Dasgupta (sarod), Amie Maciszewski (sitar) and Manpreet Bedi (tabla) performing in the inaugural concert “Hindustani Strings at the Borderlands” on Monday Feb 11 at the Performance Penthouse, Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts. A reception followed the concert.
Somjit Dasgupta in his workshop on “Musical Instruments across the Bengal Borderlands” described and showed the footage that traces instrument production from raw materials in villages to finished products in urban centers. Amie Maciszewski’s workshop on Feb. 13 explored the worlds of public ethnomusicology, documentary film-making and musical performance. The workshops were hosted by EthNoise!, UC graduate research workshop in ethnomusicology.
These workshops paved the way for the international symposium on “Performing the Bengal Borderlands” on Feb. 14 at the Franke Institute for the Humanities with scholars from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds studying expressive cultural practices along politically derived boundaries.
The welcome address by Prof. Ralph W. Nicholas, Chair, AIIS Board of Trustees, UC Dept. of Anthropology, was followed by a panel on new research featuring Bertie Kibreah, Rehanna Kheshgi, and Kaley Mason (discussant), all three from the UC Dept. of Music, joined by Munjulika Rahman, Dept. of Performance Studies, Northwestern University. Kibreah spoke on “Performing Baul-ness in the Borderlands,” Kheshgi on “Exploring intersections of race and gender in India’s Northeast,” and Rahman on “Folk, Famine, and Fishermen: Emergence of Bangladeshi ‘Folk’ Dance.”
The weeklong fest culminated on Fri. Feb. 15 at the Fulton Recital Hall in a musical encounter (mehfil) “Musicians in Movement across the Borderlands.” Attendees were invited to bring their musical instruments and singing voices to this cross-cultural music-making.
All events were free and open to the public. The program was co-sponsored in part by the Department of Music, Committee on Southern Asian Studies (COSAS), Logan Center for the Arts, University of Chicago Arts Council, and the Franke Institute for the Humanities.
Suri Swamy
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