Music drives the emotional core of any production by adding feelings that words can’t always express. It helps the audience connect with the story and remember it,” shares musician Pandit Iman Das, who has composed 43 original tracks for Amrito-Sandhane, a Greek mythological drama created by Indrani Baksy, that is set to be staged in the city. Excerpts:
‘A common thread in world mythology is the suffering of women’
Iman shares, “The narrative unfolds as a journey starting in Greek mythology and has four parts. It looks at how women are shown to suffer in different myths from around the world. A central character, drawing inspiration from the Mahabharata guides us through these stories, beginning with Greek mythological characters from works like the Iliad. The narrative then progresses to the Mahabharata. Ultimately, across these various mythological facets, the recurring theme is that women often emerge as the ultimate losers.”
‘The music is the very foundation of this production’
He adds, “I composed 43 tracks for this drama, ranging from Greek, African, and Phoenician music to Indian music. When discussing with the director, she asked for a unifying piece connecting all four scripts through world music. I realized the ocean is the only element linking Greece, Africa, the Indian Ocean, and India. Leveraging the beauty of raga music, I found a scale equivalent to the Phrygian mode in Western music and composed a piece symbolising the interconnectedness of these seas.”
