After a short night we have a full day of workshops ahead of us. Today we are leading a workshop for members and guests of the India International Centre. At the breakfast table Anand proudly shows us a full page article in Time Out Delhi with a picture and an interview about the project with Tony and myself. The breakfast takes ages (only our friend Anand manages to get some toast and tea within a minute… ) and also setting up the room takes a long while (the truck with the drumkit got stuck in the traffic that appears to be problematic, and not only at this time of day). It is good to find out that it’s not only us that have a slow start today, also the audience comes in bit by bit and doesn’t seem surprised that we are still setting up our gear.

We introduce ourselves by playing Tourist point of view, part 1 of the Far East Suite by Duke Ellington. It is a very extraordinary experience to play this music here and now. This music expresses perfectly my feelings at this moment: of being overwhelmed by the experience of being in a completely different culture and world, of the excitement and joy of being in this world. Playing this music I see Duke Ellington sitting in his touringcar in 1963, looking out the window full of wonder. I realize he never played this music here, since he only wrote it after coming back from his Far East Tour. I feel privileged to be a messenger to bring over the inspiration that he and I experience in this moment.

And then the questions come: after my demonstration of the range of my clarinet; was that 3 octaves and 6 tones you just played?, after Raaf’s explanation about saxophone mouthpieces; in what way are you using the technique of circular breathing and in what way is it different on each instrument?, after Tony’s explanation about chord schedules; how do you manage to find a balance between counterpoint and harmony?, after Erwin’s explanation about improvisation; what about introspection? And so on and on and on. All people present in the audience take active part in the day and after lunch everybody rushes back into the room to continue. The people are extremely appreciative of our explanations and demonstrations.

We finish the day with a public rehearsal on a piece that came in just before our departure: Caravan in Style by the Libanese composer Claude Chalhoub. The people are swinging their heads in Indian style on the Middle Eastern patterns of Chalhoubs music. This is why we are here! After the workshop I take a walk in the Lodhi Park, next to the Centre. Listening to the birds, enjoying the late afternoon sun, I feel completely at the right place and I’m looking forward to tomorrows (open air) concert. Tomorrow is by birthday, and I can’t think of a better present.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 6th, 2009 at 3:12 am and is filed under Far East, India, Ivar Berix, musicians. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.