Anarkali & Lancelot
Bansuri flutes: Chloé Loneiriant
Tablas: Guillaume Jankowski
The ‘Anarkali & Lancelot’ project offers a reinterpretation of the ‘semi-classical’ repertoire of North Indian music for bansuri flute and tabla: a virtuoso vocal repertoire that is largely improvised, according to the classical rules of Indian raags.
Traditionally, the thumri, dadra, chaiti, kajri and other forms that make up this repertoire were performed by women, the tawaifs. Accomplished musicians and dancers, they were regarded with respect by connoisseurs of the arts, but with disdain by a large part of the population (including the British colonists). Their musical expression was for them both a sign of protest against a system that rejected them, a heritage that gave them strength, and a factor of empowerment that allowed some of them to achieve fame, wealth and power.
In a context of female empowerment, Chloé Loneiriant carries the torch of this heritage. With her background as a classical Western flutist, her extensive training in bansuri flute and classical North Indian singing, and her experience as a woman in patriarchal cultures, interpreting these songs of autonomy comes naturally to her. Guillaume Jankowski brings to bear his thirst for archival research, musical history, and his tablas. Anarkali, a historical tawaif from the Mughal era, joins Lancelot, the French hero of courtly love, in a nod to the transcultural interest that drives both musicians.
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