Dhruba Ghosh with the sarangi | Photos by Helen Yagi, VICO
Harrie Starreveld with his shakuhachi | Photos by Helen Yagi, VICO
The Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra (VICO) is a professional concert orchestra made up of 24 core roster musicians from various ethnic backgrounds and musical traditions, from European to Indian to African and everything in between. The orchestra’s goal is to provide opportunities for the creation of new music that all cultures in Canada can enjoy. Guest musicians Harrie Starreveld and Dhruba Ghosh will join VICO for its upcoming show, The Longing Sky, which will premiere Nov. 18.
According to Starreveld, the most beautiful part of working with this kind of orchestra is the chance to hear the whole culture behind one note of a musical instrument.
“You hear one note from a Chinese violin; then you are in China; if you hear one pluck on the Middle East guitar, the oud, then you are in the Middle East. It is amazing,” says Starreveld.
Political tension put aside for music creation
Starreveld has come across other multicultural orchestras in the past and is excited to have the opportunity to play with this one. He points to Amsterdam’s Atlas Ensemble, which he sees as an example of people from groups that have longstanding tensions – perhaps Turks and Armenians or Israelis and Palestinians – coming together in harmony to create something beautiful. He expects to see the same sort of camaraderie in VICO.
“It is a dream to work with the orchestra and I’m curious to meet all the people [in VICO] because it is kind of identical to [Amsterdam’s Atlas Ensemble],” says Starreveld.
Musical stylings: East meets West
Starreveld and Ghosh were invited to play for the piece by its composer, the director of VICO, Moshe Denburg. Starreveld will play a Japanese flute called the shakuhachi and Ghosh will play an Indian instrument called the sarangi. As the musicians have begun to rehearse the piece individually, differences in their musical approaches and styles have emerged and have been addressed. According to Starreveld, who has worked with Ghosh before, musicians who play in Ghosh’s style do not read musical notes, but use sounds instead. To handle this, Denburg incorporated these sounds into the sheet music he provided both Starreveld and Ghosh.
Each performer brings a different musical sensibility to the orchestra. Starreveld explains that Indian musicians like Ghosh tend to be very open and flexible with their music – they can play jazz, pop music, or film scores, among many other genres. However, the style of music Starreveld normally plays is very strict and traditional, with little room for flexibility. The shakuhachi was used as meditation music for monks in Japan hundreds of years ago and therefore to pay homage to this, Starreveld is very strict with the music. Ghosh, by contrast, is accustomed to improvisation in his music, which provides an interesting challenge and learning opportunity.
Perspective in Vancouver
Niel Golden, the resident tabla player for VICO, says that the orchestra musicians rotate depending on what instruments will be used during particular pieces. He has played with almost everyone in the orchestra and developed good relationships with them. According to Golden, being in VICO has been a great experience and he appreciates playing with like-minded musicians who value working towards the end goal of beautiful music despite their cultural differences. Everyone has something to bring to the table, which makes for a very multicultural spread indeed.
“You get to meet musicians and composers of all different cultures and experiences,” says Golden. “VICO allows musicians to go past cultural limitations and work together to create something new and beautiful.”
