Society Tea launches Episode 5 of musical web series Sounds of Society Season 2

Society Tea, in association with Urban Beat Project, curated by Laiq Qureshi, are all set to release Episode 5 of the live musical web series — #SoundsofSociety, Season 2. The episode features musicians Mohamed Alnuma, Dilshad Khan and Raul Sengupta, orchestrating a beautiful blend of Indo-Mediterranean music and poetry, ‘Wind Blows Where It Wants’ — World Music at its finest.

The music video:

Sounds of Society is a genre-free, no-rules, and an all-inclusive approach to presenting music-making and its associated performing arts. It is a great platform for musicians to showcase their grassroots approach to making music in an entirely collaborative format. Sounds of Society - Season 2 has been shot with minimal fuss and equipment. The season will have edited as well as one-take videos to show audiences the true organic nature of each episode.

‘Wind Blows Where It Wants’, originally written by Mohamed Alnuma, is the song of the four elements, extracted from their conventional sense — where wind is the immanence of “what is”, water is the “process”, fire is what is given to “sense” and Earth is our “final destination”. Mohamed presents a quality of existential philosophy in his brand of Franco-Iraqi song writing, which got a beautiful elevation by Dilshad Khan and Raul Sengupta as they blend in the sounds of Indian Classical music that comes from the deeper understanding of their own traditions, and cultural heritage. 

Mohamed Alnuma (a Franco-Iraqi Oud player and singer) is a Nomadic artist, a career that unfolds itself as a creative process based on a double articulation: Bringing the elsewhere to "here and now", taking the "here and now" to the elsewhere. Beautiful musicians from various parts of the world have been gathered to embrace music and happiness along the way. "Al safa quartet " was formed in Germany with Syrians and Turkish’s musicians. In France, "Pechêurs de perles", in Turkey "Hawa, the first wind" a project of bringing together musicians from Turkey, Iran and India. In Greece "Roubayyat quartet", in Israel "Jalajil", in India "Hawa, time caravan", all with various local and musicians from abroad. Apart from the strictly musical projects, he co-founded with his wife Daniell Alnuma (dancer and choreographer), the Company Orientations in which he collaborate as musician and as an artistic director.

Dilshad Khan born in 1983 in Jodhpur, Rajasthan. He belongs to the Sikar Gharana of music which has given several stalwarts to Indian classical music like Padma Bhushan Ustad Sultan Khan. He is the ninth generation to take up Sarangi. He has had the honour to perform with numerous artists like Ustad Zakir Hussain, Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri, Trilok Gurtu, Sivamani, Pt. Anindo Chatterjee, Louis Banks, Abida Parveen, Hariharan, Pankaj Udhas, Shankar Mahadevan, Juliet Robertz, Mickey Hart, Taufiq Qureshi to name a few. He has played sarangi with Ustad Zakir Hussain in the album Global Drum Project which won the prestigious Grammy Award in 2009.

Born to an Indian father and a German mother, Raul Sengupta grew up in a household that was always bubbling with crossover sounds that were as varied as Rabindra sangeet and Western classical music. Discovering his love for music at the age of six, his journey into the same began with the drums at the Academy of Music in Germany. Since then he has travelled along varied and multicultural paths that have traversed the percussive traditions of Africa, Latin America and the Orient. In a return to his musical and cultural roots, he then travelled to Kolkata where he studied tabla under the guidance of Maestro Shankar Ghosh. He has toured worldwide with Prem Joshua, but also with artists like Ashraf Sharif Khan, Mahmood Sabri, Nassir Shamma, Renato Rozic, George Bishop, Archaic Pop Stuff, Amritan, Piirpauke.

Karan Shah, Director, Society Tea, said, “Music, an integral part of our lives, has the power of bringing together people across borders, just the way tea does. With Sounds of Society: Season 2, we aim at bringing soulful melodies by collaborating with versatile artists. This season has an amazing line-up and is all set to brew a flavourful experience, with the aim of etching music and tea onto the hearts of our audience. We strive towards keeping this spirit of innovation alive while spreading happiness.”

Produced by Urban Beat Project and curated by Laiq Qureshi, the collaborations in each episode represent the already existing and ever-evolving synergies in the musical world. Much of what is captured is entirely spontaneous, without any concrete rehearsals. “Some of the best music is made when musicians come together without any real aim in mind, and when they are free of going anywhere particular with their music. Like in a jam. What comes out is pure and organic. This is what we want to showcase,” said Laiq Qureshi, founder of Urban Beat Project.

Sounds of Society hopes to feature what music sounds like on the street, on a terrace, in your bedroom, on the beach, or in your backyard. The only real aim is to document the social and cultural milieu in which we live, by presenting the sounds of today.

Artists featured so far are DJ Uri, Delhi Sultanate, Hang Massive, Delhi 2 Dublin, Vasuda Sharma, Gowri Jayakumar, Chandana Bala, Nush Lewis and others.