Eyes wide shut

Israeli drummer Dov Balu Rosen has always believed in thinking out of the box. So he came up with a unique concept called The Blind Orchestra, where all musicians play blindfolded under the direction of a conductor. Mumbai gets to witness the musical experience this evening. “The music is composed live on stage and nothing is composed earlier,” says Rosen. “Every piece starts with a different musician who is free to play anything, even surprising the conductor and the band.”

Rosen, a painter as well, came up with the idea five years ago when he wanted to create a musical representation of his art at an exhibition in Tel Aviv. “I was always a jam freak, improvising with everyone everywhere, enjoying the magic that arrives from the moment,” he says adding that the more experimentation he did, the more he became convinced that this was the best improvisational concept he had created. “As the musicians play blindfolded, they don't know how they will play and the conductor doesn't know what they will play. The instruments keep varying from concert to concert and in each country we add local instruments too,” says Rosen.

Normally, the orchestra has two conductors, who use two wands as everyone is playing blindfolded. Sometimes, a member of the audience is invited to conduct too. Over the years, some 150 musicians have been part of The Blind Orchestra across 20 countries. Rosen has been visiting India off and on, and loves playing in Goa and small villages all over. On a recent visit to Manali, he met bassist Manas Chowdhary. “We jammed and it was an immediate ‘click’,” says the drummer. “This guy has everything I look for in a musician with a great big smile.” This is the second time The Blind Orchestra performs for a Mumbai audience. This time, Chowdhary helped coordinate the Indian part of the line-up.

Wherever Rosen goes, he loves experimenting. “I like to call myself a music traveller out to build a great team,” he says. “We use various musical styles and thus it’s difficult to define what we play.”

The Blind Orchestra performs this evening at The Quarter, Royal Opera House, Girgaum at 9 p.m.