'Whitelight Unplugged' to bring forth Dubai talent

Friday’s full moon will shed new light on an organic initiative to provide a platform for serious art lovers to share, learn and work with one another in a celebration of talent called Whitelight Unplugged.

Without any hierarchy or bureaucracy at play, the initiative has been put in motion by UAE's first Indian choir, Malhaar for a set of like-minded individuals who simply want to celebrate all forms of art in a bid to nurture a gene pool of talent that could be either seasoned or emerging.

Talking to Emirates 24|7, Malhaar Choir’s founding director Jogiraj Sikidar, who is one of the few pushing forth this concept, said: “Simply put, Whitelight Unplugged is a forum for serious artists, irrespective of nationality or limited to any genre.

“This is a platform for serious lovers of art to exchange ideas, perform at leisure, learn from others and attempt something new by working together as a community.”

Around every full moon, which Jogiraj said was adapted to maintain a uniform theme to host the event, volunteers will open the doors to their home to allow talent and creativity to explode on a single platform.

A noted musician himself, Jogiraj said that due to limited exposure and resources, many talented individuals simply don’t get the opportunity to experiment with their music and grow as artists.

“Because there is such limited interaction between genres of talent some times, a jazz musician might end up doing just that, while classical musicians may not get the same exposure in fusing different art forms into their music,” said Jogiraj. “And what’s worse, when jamming does happen on a wide scale, more often than not, it turns into a karaoke affair or a Bollywood night.

“Our aim is to merge the jazz and classical art forms together, as an example, to create a new sound and allow both sets of musicians to challenge themselves as artists and learn from the experience.”

Meeting once a month, the first such evening will be hosted by Lajwanti Gupta, daughter of the late Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, a legendary Indian classical musician and niece of the award winning Ravi Shankar.

The first meeting, which will be held on March 9, Jogiraj said the theme is Holi, to celebrate the Indian festival of colours where musicians, artists and poetry reading sessions will be held.