The Dosti Music Project—a month-long creative collaboration between ten “Dosti Fellow” musicians from India, Pakistan, and the US—begins its nine-day New Orleans residency this Saturday to the tune of a handful of innovative shows, workshops, and events.
The participating musicians—four from Pakistan, four from India, and two from the US—form an eclectic group whose musical fields of expertise range from playing classical Indian sarod to Appalachian fiddling, from traditional Sufi singing to electronic beat-making, and much more.
“Dosti” means friendship in both Hindi and Urdu, the national languages of both India and Pakistan. Although they were formerly one nation, the border area has been fraught with violence since partition and the dissolution of the British Raj in 1947.
Currently, it’s extremely difficult to cross the border and almost impossible for musicians in the two countries to collaborate.
The Dosti Project, then, was an initiative of the US Embassy in Islamabad to get some of these musicians together elsewhere to create new music, reinvent traditional music, and foster border-bridging relationships.
They’ve partnered with Bang on a Can’s Found Sound Nation, a New York group that produces various music diplomacy projects.
The project’s New Orleans residency was organized by Sound Observatory New Orleans (SONO), a local organization designed to promote new, innovative music in the city.
It was founded by local arts administrator Lisa Giordano and multi-talented saxophonist/vocalist Aurora Nealand, who is one of the two American Dosti Fellows.
Right now, the Fellows are finishing up a two-week residency at the Atlantic Center for the Arts in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, where they’ve been getting to know each other and creating bizarre, wonderful music that integrates their diverse talents.
During their New Orleans stint, they’ll be housed in various spaces around the Bywater, with the Tigermen’s Den serving as a central headquarters for writing music, sharing meals, and participating in workshops with local guest artists like Germaine Bazzle, Cliff Hines, Jason Weaver, and Mitchell Player.
“We’re trying to set up a campus atmosphere,” Nealand said. “They could theoretically stay in hotels or wherever, but we really wanted them to be immersed more in the fabric of New Orleans.”
The group will participate in several shows and outreach programs, starting with a series of small group performances at the Blue Nile’s Open Ears Music Series on March 10. The show begins at 10 p.m., and the Dosti Fellows are on the bill with local big band improv favorites The Naked Orchestra.
Next up is an educational presentation at Arise Academy in the 9th Ward. They’ve partnered with Make Music NOLA, a program that provides free after-school music instruction to local children.
On Friday, March 13, they’ll give an informal performance with G-String Orchestra and The Calypso Band at a dinner pop-up by Bhava chef Anne Churchill at the Tigermen’s Den. The evening kicks off at 7 p.m. and just might result in “a full-on community jam.”
The following day, the Dosti Fellows will be on hand to help with Dancing Grounds’ birthday bash. The St. Claude dance organization will celebrate its three-year anniversary at 6 p.m. with a free public street studio where they’ll urge unsuspecting passerby into spontaneous dance and music-making.
Finally, SONO will host a culminating performance at Snug Harbor (with 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. shows) on Sunday, March 15, to showcase the groundbreaking original music that was born out of the month-long residency.
When they depart from New Orleans, the Dosti Fellows and facilitators will finish up their month together in Austin, TX, performing at the South by Southwest music festival. (Nealand will also perform there with the Science Band, one of her many side projects.)
For more information on the Dosti Project, as well as bios on the musicians, visit http://dostimusic.org/.
For more information on SONO, visit http://www.soundobservatory.com/.
