Gautam Tejas Ganeshan, who is collaborating with Tree of Life/Subterranean Arthouse to develop new songs in English in the Carnatic music tradition is presenting four songwriter sessions in the main atrium of the UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive on the next four second Sundays (February 9 and March 9, April 13, and May 11, 2014, 11 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.). Performances are free with admission to the museum and are presented as part of its experimental exhibition The Possible. Guests to the performance will be invited to sing and to work on a handbuilding ceramics project.
The lead artist writes of the project theme, “In India every sacred site has a “sthala puranam,” or “story of this place”–an oral history of local flora and fauna, mythical elements, land ownership, etc.–how it came to be what it is now. For some places it’s widely known, and for others it’s scribed in a secret place under a pavement stone. And what about for this place? It’s the bards and groits who tell the tales and sing the stories.
Ganesham has invited local songwriters to explore identified themes with him at each session. The February 9 theme, “Intelligence” features Jody Stecher, Sean Burns, and Andrew Berg.