Sheila Arnold and Alexander-Sergei Ramirez are musical masters in their own right.
The duo — Indian-born and Peruvian-born respectively — have spent their lives in Germany, soaking in the beauty of Western classical music. In the city for precious family time and to perform at the Goethe Institut last week, the duo opens up about its tryst with Chennai.
While this is Ramirez’ first visit to the city, Arnold is back after 25 years. “My mother was a student of Women’s Christian College,” shares the Cologne University of Music professor, recalling, “I had visited the city in 1992-93, for my research paper on Carnatic music. That is when I had my first performance at Kalakshetra.”
For Tiruchi-born Arnold, memories of India are a combination of family visits, and concerts, chamber music workshops and musical collaborations. Her warmest professional recollections are of the Sangath festival in Mumbai; personal ones are of being pampered by grandparents and laughing with cousins across Tamil Nadu.
Now, back after 25 years, the two have a shared memory that they are effusive about: Kalakshetra. Ramirez sums up the entire visit in one word, “Fascinating.”
Arnold elaborates, “Now that I’ve come back after 25 years and watched them again, I’m seeing it from another view. Then I was at the beginning of my studies; now I’m a professor myself. The way they teach, what they are taught and the intimacy of the lessons are all striking”
Ramirez looks back at his visit and says, “It was another world. It was quiet... a very concentrated atmosphere. The dance classes were fascinating, as was the precise performances of the students. The campus, the atmosphere made it seem like a big, big conservatory.”
For a duo, who has given years of their lives to the study and teaching of music, the instruction methods at Kalakshetra opened up a whole new set of possibilities.
They were both impressed by the veena classes — by the structure of the music, the way of counting, the sheer number of arrangements possible with a single instrument and its sharp contrast from German classical music.
“To us it seemed highly, highly complicated,” says Arnold, “And here it comes naturally. Flexibility of the mind is expected!”
She elaborates, “There, we have the harmonical system; here we saw the melodical system. One one side the beautiful development of the melody: the beautiful moulding of just one note, and on the other, the rhythm. The precision and the power of footwork in the dance... the body control!”
According to Ramirez, “The first thing that struck me was that in Germany, in fact, in Europe in general — we have colleges for music, colleges for dance, and colleges for art. So, there are three different colleges. Here, in this campus, everything was together. That as a dancer, you could go sit in a music lesson or in art lesson was, for us, fascinating. The fact that the teacher sang and her students knew exactly what to do was just...” his voice fades, at a loss for words.
Arnold says, “Actually we were talking about this among the faculty in Cologne; how it would be not only nice, but also important to facilitate interaction between different art forms.”
The influence of Kalakshetra is not the only thing the couple takes back with them from this trip. Right before reaching Chennai, they had a family hallmark of a moment. “Our daughter is a ballet dancer,” says Arnold, “We performed with her for the first time in India as well — in Vellore.”
The artistes were quite happy with their reception in Vellore, and with the musical know-how of their audience there. “There were so many youngsters exposed to western classical music there,” says Arnold, “Even in Chennai, there is exposure to music. All the children need are some good classical pianos and guitars.”
(In this series we feature people who continue to work as they travel).