A special kind of literature and spoken word concert
The Soniq Kollektiv, Christina Fuchs, Ramesh Shotham and Jarry Singla, hosted performer and singer Sascha Ley and vocal artist Mitch Heinrich at Jaki (Stadtgarten Köln) for a special kind of literature and spoken word concert.
The starting point for the concert was Salman Rushdie’s new novel “Victory City”. Salman Rushdie has interwoven Indian mythology and history in his books, starting with his debut novel “Midnight Children”. With his special brand of magical realism, he always takes a critical look at existing political and social conditions. Despite the threat posed by the fatwa issued by Iranian religious leader Ayatolla Khomeini, he has always fought courageously for the freedom of the word. Rushdie’s recent work, “Victory City”, combines the story of Vijayanagara, also known as Hampi, with the mythology of the goddess Pampaa Devi. In a fantastical setting, he uses colourful storytelling to deal with real issues such as the abuse of power, the rise and fall of a great power and the role of patriarchy.
Inspired by Rushdie’s colourful narrative art, the Soniq Collective conceived a concert evening that had something of a modern radio play, spoken word performance, music and poetry and vocal art meeting instrumental art, just as Rushdie uses history and mythology as a foil and deals with them freely, Luxembourg’s Sascha Ley and Mitch Heinrich from Wuppertal dealt with the text in an extremely imaginative way. Sascha Ley recounted personal experiences from India, passages from the text and excerpts from mythology in marvellous (English) language.
From time to time she also sang, sometimes sounding like an Indian singer and at other times like an English singer/songwriter. Mitch Heinrich accompanied this with vocal artistry, either non-verbal singing and noises or word twists such as the witty corruption of bird names, all this with sometimes breathtaking speed and wild gestures and facial expressions. Also remarkable was a call and response by Mitch with Ramesh Shotham, in which Ramesh recited the South Indian drum language and Mitch skated in response, all in the right rhythm.
All the text fragments, vocalisations and sounds were masterfully integrated into the music of the Soniq collective. Even without understanding a word of the lyrics, the combination of words and music functioned as great sound art, a true synthesis of words and music. The instrumental qualities of the Soniq collective were once again very clear. Christina Fuchs played the saxophone and clarinet wonderfully, Ramesh Shotham showed himself as always to be a master of percussion and Jarry Singla is not only a sensitive pianist but also operated a harmonium.
Soniq has played many great concerts in the past with very different themes and guests, from Norwegian folklore, Indian dance and free expression dance to Moroccan Gnawa singers. But the Literature and Spoken Word programme was certainly one of the best.
