At first listen, the music of India seems to have little in common with contemporary and traditional Irish tunes.
But a group of talented musos currently touring smaller centres in Aotearoa is about to prove the unlikely collaboration works a treat.
‘India meets Ireland’ is coming to Arrowtown tomorrow, thanks to the creative brains behind Arts on Tour.
Two father-daughter combos from each nationality will sing and play the bouzouki, ukulele, sitar and guitar — blending music and song from the Indian and Irish cultures.
Basant Madhur and his daughter, Sargam, come from a renowned musical family that established New Zealand’s premier Indian music school in Auckland.
They’re joined by internationally-renowned muso Jon Sanders, from County Kerry, in Ireland, and his daughter, Jenny Os.
Jon says he divides his time between Ireland, Germany, where he’s just renovated an old winemaker’s house, and NZ, where he
owns a chalet in the Tongariro National Park.
When he’s here, he always reconnects with Basant, a tablas player, to make music.
While they’ve normally called the concerts ‘East Meets West’, for this particular tour, it’s ‘India Meets Ireland’.
‘‘It seems to go down really well,’’ Jon says.
‘‘Basant’s daughter is just 19, but a wonderful sitar player, cool as a cucumber.
‘‘Likewise, my daughter, Jenny, who grew up in Kerry, in the west of Ireland, and has been exposed to that traditional culture.
‘‘But she also likes a lot of different styles of music so it’s a nice blend going in there already.’’
Jon says when you look at the ‘‘wider picture’’ there are many commonalities between the countries’ musical styles.
‘‘In Ireland we have reels and and India we have ragas.
‘‘Another part of the Arts on Tour remit is to talk about what we’re doing and where this music comes from, its tradition, the reason why it is as it is, and how it works within society when it’s performed.
‘‘It’s like the old BBC saying, ‘to educate, inform and entertain’, so I think we are going to tick those three boxes.’’
India Meets Ireland, Arrowtown Athenaeum Hall, tomorrow, 4pm. Tickets, $35, via eventfinda
