Drumming to a different beat

Tarun Balani. Pics Courtesy/G5A

One of India's finest jazz talents, Tarun Balani, is set to surprise his audience with a unique show for the G5A Foundation. Innovative, on the edge, and an experience music aficionados cannot miss. The concert promises to push the envelope on technique, style, and immersive art.

Music has always been the domain of improvisers, and Balani is determined to take it to the next level. As part of G5A Foundation's In Residence program, the drummer has fashioned the 2° Seasonal Affected Beats featuring Parizad D, which integrates transmedia to formulate an enchanting performance. The concert will take place at the G5A Warehouse's Black Box.

Parizad D

But what is transmedia, you'd ask? Well, the art form uses multiple media to create a complete sensory experience. Balani's live performance will not be the only thing on display. Visual artist Parizad D's artworks will coalesce into his performance enhancing the musical adventure. A storyteller at heart, Parizad, often uses the mediums of photography, analogue printing, and filmmaking to explore deeply personal and surreal narratives.

Supported by BNP Paribas India Foundation, the G5A Foundation's In Residence programme is quite the innovation itself, to allow artists "time away from life's other distractions," Associate director, G5A, Ishan Benegal tells us. "In Residence stemmed from the idea and need to create the possibility for a theatre group, musician, or visual artist to come in for a few days of immersive practice: to work on developing a new work, refine a work in progress," he explains.

For Balani, this has resulted in an intense and immersive work of art. Since his debut album, Sacred World, the drummer has been hailed as a special talent with an eye on evolving his music into a more holistic art form. His description of the concert certainly stands true to that definition. "A cultural space like G5A is an ideal environment for my music as it explores a multiverse of themes, and has an experiential expression via performative electronic music," Balani reveals.

The concert is not the only event he will put up at the venue. It will be preceded by a Drum lab workshop tomorrow, to explore the "art of improvisation, performance, and composition" at the Black Box, followed by a Vinyl launch and listening session at the same venue's Study on April 8.

Yet, for the true blue art seeker, the events to keep an eye on are the concerts. It will mark the debut of a transmedia show and perhaps a chance to witness the evolution of an artist as well.

On April 9, 7 pm; April 10, 7 pm
At G-5/A, Laxmi Mills Estate, Mahalaxmi West.
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Cost Rs 500 onwards

Playlist of Balani's works

. For every man saved a victim will be found
. Jitter
. Dr. Escher
. 2° (For naima)
. Hypnagogia