Two worlds, one sound

The Dosti Music Project was started by Found Sound Nation to offer a voice and opportunity to artistes from India and Pakistan to bond and create original music within the tertiary space of the United States It offers a chance to transcend the conflicts of their governments and meet facetoface as equals as peers as creative beings who share a rich history Nandi Plunkett Communications and Programs Manager Found Sound Nation and Chris Marianetti CoDirector Found Sound Nation about their journey so farIndian and Pakistani musicians at a rehearsal Pic courtesyOra DeKornfeldQ Tell about Found Sound Nation and OneBeatA Found Sound Nation FSN located in Bronx USA uses music as an instrument of peace and civic engagement bridging geographic and cultural divides through processes of music composition songwriting and performance It partners with local youth social organisations music festivals and artistes across all disciplines to engage people in our interactive process of collaborative music audio and video production For the last eight years our organisation has gone on to partner with music festivals in Zimbabwe Switzerland New York and Maine design collaborative projects in India Haiti Indonesia and New Orleans and develop music composition workshops with incarcerated youth in New York In 2012 we began a partnership with the US Department of Statersquos Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and Bang on a Can to produce OneBeat an international exchange and public diplomacy project which we see as more than a music festival or cultural exchange In 2014 we began working with the US Embassy in Islamabad to create Dosti a sister programme to OneBeatFirst day of the Dosti Project 2015 Pics courtesyOra DeKornfeldQ How was the first year of the Dosti programmeA Dosti 2015 brought together a group of musicians from Pakistan India and the US for a monthlong residency and tour The project is an initiative of the US Embassy in Pakistan and Found Sound Nation and from February to March of 2015 invited four Pakistanis four Indians and two US musicians from a wide variety of traditions mdash ranging from Sufi singing to beatmaking to avantgarde Jazz mdash to collaboratively write record and perform original music reinvent traditional music and develop initiatives that would make a positive impact on communities locally and internationally Dosti which means friendship in Urdu and Hindi seeks to transcend political and cultural barriers through crosscultural musical collaboration By endowing each Dosti Fellow with the immediate resources for interacting with musicians across the border and guiding them to think about methods for social engagement and development projects in their own communities we imagine this will augment exponentially over time The cultures of India and Pakistan are already deeply interconnected but creating opportunities for peopletopeople contact can be challenging That said music has always served as a binding force in South Asia Bollywood is wildly popular on both sides of the border just as ghazal singers attract audiences Indians and Pakistanis have an immense shared cultural experience upon which to build new collaborations and the Dosti Project provides a space for that to happenStudents from India Pakistan and USA participate in the Dosti Project 2015Q Take us through the entire selection processA The Dosti application and selection process is based on OneBeat application which sources musicians from around the world and from an incredibly diversity of backgrounds traditions and cultures Wersquove taken great advantage of the connectedness and openness of the Internet the broadened access to video and audio means of production recording on mobile phones and wersquove created an entirely free and online application process In collaboration with the embassies our Found Sound Nation staff and a panel of expert reviewers select applicants who best fit the criteria listed on our site applydostimusicorgeligibility This year our alumni have also helped out by recommending musicians and helping to recruit local talentQ What was the responseA Wersquove had an incredible response to OneBeat and Dosti This year we had over 4000 people register an application for the OneBeat programme now in its fourth year with around 2000 actual submissions while nearly 300 people apply for DostiQ What was most gratifying about the programmeA Witnessing the connections and friendships that develop from this work has been immensely rewarding Itrsquos amazing to see the continued work that folks are doing now that theyrsquove returned to their home countries Natasha Ejaz is hoping to create a music education initiative in her city that addresses the needs of older music traditions while exciting young people about music Surojato Roy and Mirande Shah have been collaborating with Kolkatarsquos disadvantaged kids Bilal Khan has a dream of creating a spinoff musical festival like Dosti for Indians and Pakistanis to continue collaboratingQ What were the challenges that you facedA Working with musicians from various traditions can be challenging I use the word tradition precisely because it can refer to something not only with a great deal of time behind it such as lsquoClassical or Folk music traditionrsquo but also to something quite new for example the practice of modern electronic musicians At the beginning of the programme I was very frustrated because of the difficulty of combining what I viewed as ldquotraditionalrdquo musicians and modern Electronic music makers How will a sarangi player play with a trapbeat making DJ But itrsquos unhelpful to view it in this light Itrsquos much more helpful to look at how differences between traditions can provide alternatives or even get translated over to the other sideQ What is the plan for Dosti 2016A The second year of the programme will run from February 22 ndash March 23 2016 It begins with a threeweek residency at the Atlantic Center for the Arts in Florida focusing on methods of collaboration and workshops with local schools and community organisations and culminates in a weeklong tour with performances and social engagements throughout the Southeastern region of the United States Through the process of sharing listening and collaborating the Dosti musician delegates will model a creative cooperative and egalitarian cultural exchange between India Pakistan and the United States ndash providing a positive template for crossnational discourse and peopletopeople diplomacy