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Phoolan Devi: The Bandit Queen The Project
   

is a multi-media chamber opera composed by Shirish Korde and directed by Lynn Kremer, based on real events in the life of this iconic figure-- born into poverty, sold as a child bride, abducted by bandits, abused and victimized, imprisoned, elected to India’s Parliament-- then tragically assassinated in 2001 at the age of 37. Korde and Kremer have collaborated on several music/theater projects including Rasa (1999) and Chitra (2002). Like Rasa and Chitra, Phoolan Devi focuses on the life of a single female character, in this case the life of India’s notorious Bandit Queen.

Shirish Korde’s contemporary score for Phoolan Devi, like his critically acclaimed operas Chitra and Rasa and the violin concerto Svara-Yantra, is a powerful synthesis of Asian and Western musical traditions. Drawing on the ancient traditions of India such as Vedic Chant, the ecstatic and spiritual style known as Qawwali (made popular in the US by the great Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan), Bollywood, Jazz, propulsive rhythms of tabla drumming, and contemporary music; the composer unifies these styles into a seamless lyrical score. The music portrays the notorious and complex life of Phoolan Devi, who achieved near mythical status in her lifetime.

bandits
Phoolan Devi surrenders

The score calls for 3 singers, an ensemble of 10 musicians (including sitar and tabla players), choir and 12 actor-dancers. Pakistani-Canadian soprano Zorana Sadiq, in the title role of Phoolan Devi, and master tabla artist Aditya Kalyanpur will be joined by musicians of Boston Musica Viva under the direction of Richard Pittman.

Directed by Lynn Kremer, renowned specialist in South and Southeast Asian Music/Theatre, the production draws on the movement vocabulary of Asian dance traditions.

 

The ensemble of 12 actors/dancers compliments and enriches the narrative through the re-interpretation of Indian classical and folk dance. A rich scenic environment, created by a team of experienced designers including multi-media video artist Raphaele Shirley, adds an exciting visual aspect to the production and provides an abstract backdrop to the retelling of this epic tale.

This innovative new opera has been evolving gradually; beginning as a series of songs that received their premiere in New York in 2006. “The showpiece of the evening was the 100th composition commissioned by Da Capo since its inception: Phoolan Devi Songs by Shirish Korde, …This is a colorful, attractive piece, set on a lush, gaudy bed of amplification, aiming at an entertaining stylistic fusion…the highlight was the tabla playing in the final scene, which stood out from the other instruments with the kind of vivid exciting performance that draws Western composers to non- Western music in the first place.” (Anne Midgett, New York Times)

a powerful
synthesis of Asian
and Western
musical tradition

A second cycle, Songs Of Ecstasy, commissioned by the Fromm and Jebediah Foundations, was premiered by Boston Musica Viva in spring 2008. This set of songs, also based on the Phoolan Devi materials, featured soprano Zorana Sadiq and Aditya Kalyanpur on tabla. (Both soloists will be performing in the Phoolan Devi: The Bandit Queen Premiere in 2010.) Matthew Guerrieri of the Boston Globe wrote: “Soaring operatic vocal lines against dense, glinting harmonic masses in the six instruments… the evening’s most satisfying performances.”

The first staged workshop of scenes from Phoolan Devi: The Bandit Queen took place in 2008 in collaboration with Boston Musica Viva and The Experimental Music theatre Ensemble at the College of the Holy Cross under the direction of Lynn Kremer. Currently the project has the committed support of two distinguished contemporary music ensembles, New York’s Da Capo Chamber Players and Boston’s Musica Viva. A national tour is planned for 2010-11.