Different Trains 1947 is a new audiovisual event series inspired by Steve Reich’s ’80s composition ‘Different Trains’, with Actress, These New Puritans’ Jack Barnett and Sandunes amongst those confirmed to take part in the shows which will include a performance at the Barbican. You can watch a video trailer for the events above.
Their music, as well as that of percussionist Jivraj Singh and vocalist Priya Purushothaman, will be paired with new visual work from Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, featuring material from the BFI National Archive’s extensive collection of rare films of pre-Independence India. Reich’s original composition recounted experiences of US and European train travel during World War Two and, in this new work, the artists taking part will revisit this idea to explore stories from the UK and India, during the period of Indian Independence.
"I’ve taken the opportunity to approach this piece from a really personal place," says Sandunes. "My grandfather was from Karachi, Pakistan and moved to Bombay in 1945. I felt moved to tie 1947 into the piece through his story and will be using sections from an interview recording with my grandmother as one of the main themes within the piece."
Priya Purushothaman spoke of the process of working with Actress on the project, saying: "We exchanged thoughts on the theme of the project and he told me the raags (musical scales) that he was interested in exploring. I demonstrated different raags and taals and we discussed the moods they created and the cultural associations that came with them. Our process expanded more after he went back to the UK and we exchanged sketches of ideas, musical and thematic, to which I could react from my musical idiom. The process is like a conversation between our musical styles to see how they may fit together like pieces of a puzzle."
The performance will take place at London’s Barbican on October 1 as part of Transcender 2017, with another presentation due to take place ahead of that at Liverpool’s Edge Hill Station on September 27. Find more details and buy tickets here.
