News:
Concert dates 2008.
Rangeela Virtual Showcase on the WOMEX website.
Rangeela, literally means "mix
of colours"; Rajasthan is a state in India presenting a mosaic of varied
and multiple intensities: where one finds many coloured places, where you can
meet people with origins, you will come across very diverse conditions and traditions,
many social groups, castes, whose families live next to each other and have very
close relations without losing their singularity you can attend to many-coloured
festivals full of colours as sharp and contrasted as those of the pallet of a
genius-painter: troubadours, marionnettists, funambulists, bear leaders, fakirs
constitute the artistic landscape of cities and villages.
Various geographical
areas, landscapes as charming as contrasted: walking through all this, one discovers
the desert and his dunes, the mountain with rocky slopes, or plains with green
grass.
from palaces of Maharajas to fortresses, from temples to mosques, cities
such as Jaipur, clothed completely in pink, Nagaur, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur or Udaipur
are true symphonies of colours with enchanting movement ; each one of them different,
displaying innumerable intensities of clothing, sounds, languages.
These last
ones offer a true mosaic of innumerable ranges: manner of speech, expressions,
dialects change every 30 kilometres.
The seasons also alternate between various
colourings: monsoon, the summer and the winter merge, changing the clothing and
the colours of the sky and the ground.
The various traditions offer to the
ear a fairy play of musical colours: moreover, the word Raga, which indicates
the different and many musical modes, can be translated in "colour"
(or mood).
Among the instruments, the sarangi is a kind of violin having three
melody cords and a few dozen sympathetic cords; the name is literally translated
in "hundred colours". The state of Rajasthan is definitely a subtle
mixture of sounds and visuals, rythmic and coloured, which is perfectly illustrated
through the virtuous interpretations of the artists of Rangeela, who propose a
subtle, ethnic and spiritual music, influenced by the cultures of gipsies, Hindus
and Muslim...
Sattar
Khan, creator and artistic director of Rangeela, was born in Kérab, a small village of Rajasthan located in the North-West of
India. His father, as his ancestors, were musicians, carriers of a tradition as
well popular as traditional. He became master in the art of playing the dholak
and, after his arrival in Europe in 1996,he did not cease transmitting his culturel
heritage in a very particular way, whilst sharing it with interpreters of various
percussion instruments.
Sattar Khan has a long experience in playing with
the group Musafir and he also played with musicians
such as Natasha Atlas, Ghalia Benali, Mary-Anne Roberts, groups of fusion in England,
in Belgium, in India...
In 2004, taking advantage from this Western experience,
Sattar decides to present his own traditional heritage: music and dance of Rajasthan.
Rangeela, was born out of a varied and coloured mixture of artists coming from
the four corners of the desert of Thar desert: each one of them gives a particular
interpretation of a lyric and musical heritage. The Sapera-Kalbélya sing,
dance and play the morchang and the double flute; the Langa, the Kalawat and the
Manganiyar are famous poets, who play the sarangi and sing a broad repertory of
old traditional râjasthâni songs; the traditional musicians, sing
and play the tabla's; the musicians of the court also sing, accompanying themselves
with the harmonium and with the dholak, the fakirs achieve astonishing exploits,
dance, etc...
Throughout a highly elaborate performance, Sattar Khan takes
us along in the vibrating heart of the desert...
Mahabub
Khan, general director of Rangeela, was born in
a little village (Kerap) in the region of Rajasthan. Like his brother Sattar Khan,
he belongs to an old family of traditional musicians, who passed on there art
for generations from father to son. He interprets the traditionnal songs of his
natal region, which accompany the agricultural activities and the annual village
festivals. He is a gifted singer of traditionnal compositions from Rajasthan,
Bhajan and Qawwali songs and he will impress you with his unique and powerful voice
that is reminiscent of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's. He also plays instruments like
tabla (percussion instrument) and harmonium (piano-accordion instrument).
For
more then ten years he travelled around the world (Europe, Africa, and Asia) to
play on festivals with the traditionnal music and dance group Musafir. He also played with Gulabi Sapera
(India), Thierry Robin (France), Lo'Jo Triban (France), Natasha Atlas (England),
Transglobal Underground (England), Pieter-Jan De Smet (Belgium), Kiva (Canada),
Fanà - Derwish dance - Haqqani Mevlevi (Italy), Ghalia Benali (Tunesia),
Djamel (Algeria), Mastana - Qawwali du Rajasthan (France).
Maya Sapera is the talented Sapera dancer, who works together with Mahabub and Sattar. She was only six years when she first performed. Working with professional artists and dance groups from several countries, specialised in different dance styles (Arabic - classical Indian, flamenco…), she has since acquired a solid stage and dance experience. Her enchanting presence on stage, takes the public into a different world. Recently she started giving Sapera dance workshops and with success. The gift to analyze the movements, makes that she can transmit in an able manner the energy of the Sapera dance to her students.
Since 2000 Mahabub Khan lives in Belgium and together with his brother Sattar he created in 2002 "The Khan Brothers" - Qawali music from Rajasthan and "Rangeela” - music of Rajasthan.
Discography
Mahabub Khan:
1993:
"Musiques du Rajasthan" with Gulabi Sapera
1993: "Gitans"
with Thierry Robin
1996: with Lo'Jo Triban
1997: "Rejoice, Rejoice"
with Transglobal Underground
1997: "Gipsies of Rajasthan" with Musafir
2002:
"Barsaat" with Musafir
2003: "Suits You" with Pieter-Jan
De Smet
2004: "Pulse" with Kiva
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