Manchester Camerata: Māyā – An Orchestral Carnatic Song at The Stoller Hall
Johnny James, Managing Editor
Fusing the sound of a Western Classical Orchestra with Carnatic song, Rushil Ranjan presents his new composition Māyā, commissioned by Manchester Camerata, at The Stoller Hall.
Rushil Ranjan is a multidisciplinary artist whose work in contemporary, Sufi, and classical music is lauded around the world. He’s performed at the likes of the Albert Hall with his Orchestral Qawwali Project, premiered the world’s first Urdu Symphonic Poem with longtime collaborator Abi Sampa, and scored award-winning films for Netflix, ITV, Flim 4 and the BFI – including the Bafta nominated documentary Always Asifa.
Recently, Rushil entered into an artistic partnership with Manchester Camerata, who have commissioned a new work that sees the London-based artist take to The Stoller Hall with Abi Sampa (veena, vocal), Praveen Prathapan (Indian classical flute and konnakol), Janan Sathiendran (mridangam & tabla) and the Camerata themselves.
Together, they’ll perform a piece that offers an orchestral exploration of Carnatic music, widely considered to be the most ancient and pure form of music from the Indian subcontinent. With its roots in the 12th century, Carnatic music presents a quest for the undiluted aesthetic experience (rasa), connecting deeply with spiritual and vedic traditions, while incorporating mathematical, rhythmic complexity and raga to beautifully illustrate tales from Hindu mythology.
Seeing this reframed in the context of a Western classical orchestra will be fascinating, especially with the augmentation of synthesisers, piano, guitars and harmonium by Rushil himself. We’re also very happy to see Abi Sampa lending her soaring vocals and virtuosic veena playing to the performance. Listen to any of Rushil’s music on Spotify and you’ll hear her stunning voice move from moments of spiritual focus through incantatory power to flights of love.
There’s a lot of good stuff being programmed at The Stoller Hall at the moment, but this concert is a standout for us. Limited £10 tickets are available for under 30s, and if you’re a Gorton resident, you’ll pay just £3.
