Promotor
OUT.RA - Associação Cultural
Sinopse
THE ALBATROSS AROUND MY NECK: Retracing echoes of loss between Lucknow and Berlin
De by: Markus Schlaffke
2018 | Alemanha Germany / Índia India | 60’
Legendado em inglês English subtitles
[estreia nacional national premiere]
Irfan Khan é um dos mestres do sarod - instrumento de cordas ligado à música hindustani - e, como habitualmente nesse tradição musical indiana, um representante de uma dinastia, neste caso da região de Lucknow-Shahjahanpur-Gharana. O seu avô, Sakhawat Hussein Khan, ajudou a formar as linhas que definem esta música clássica indiana, e foi, muito antes do famoso Ravi Shankhar, dos primeiros músicos da região a actuar em palcos europeus, na década de 1930.
Neste filme, o realizador Markus Schlaffke documenta o retorno de Irfan Khan à Índia, em 2014, após vários anos de ensino no estrangeiro; Khan pretende retomar a sua carreira enquanto músico ao vivo e, em simultâneo, acompanhar assuntos de família. A partir daí, acompanhamos os seus esforços para, sem qualquer suporte institucional, manter viva a sua herança musical, numa luta tantas vezes inglória que o leva dos palácios de Lucknow a arquivos alemães.
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Sarod-maestro Irfan Khan is the representative of a musical dynasty in India - the Lucknow-Shahjahanpur-Gharana. Irfan’s ancestors shaped classical Indian music. Among them was Sakhawat Hussein Khan, Irfan’s grandfather, who was one of the first Indian musicians to perform on European stages in the 1930s.
Filmmaker Markus Schlaffke follows Irfan Khan beginning in 2014, when Irfan returns to India after having taught music abroad for several years, to resume his concert career and to arrange the family affairs. From there on, the film documents Irfan’s efforts to take care of his musical heritage, which he is afraid could be falling into oblivion soon. Without institutional support, Irfan’s preservational undertaking becomes at times a frustrating business - or as Irfan puts it: “It feels like an albatross around the neck!”.
The film tells the story of some of the most influential Indian musicians. It turns out to become a journey through a landscape of memories that begins in Lucknow’s palaces and leads to German archives.