Taj Express’ Contemporary Take on Tradition

Taj Express is the first live Bollywood performance with live musical accompaniment. The performance was held at UCONN and I attended the event at the Jorgensen performing arts center. The play is about a young aspiring Indian composer, Shankar, who is creating a soundtrack for a Bollywood film. Shankar narrates the film as it is performed. In between live scenes of the movie there are parts of Shankar and his three musicians trying to write songs for the next movie scene, all while the director calls Shankar to tell him to improve his songs. Shankar stresses over each composition in hopes that his music will be good enough for the movie.

Shankar’s movie is a Bollywood film which parodies many of its tropes. Like Bollywood, parodies the stereotypical Hollywood film with the inclusion of Indian culture. The film is portrayed as a total train wreck with cheesy script writing. They say that the film is the greatest story ever written, but they add a villian halfway through who never gets closure. However, Shankar’s music and choreography take center stage. The music is based off the contemporary styles of hip hop, pop, and other American club music. But in the fashion of Bollywood, the music is based in Indian music. With the use of classic Indian instruments like wooden flute and tabla ,Indian drums, contemporary music creates the Bollywood sound. One of my favorite parts was a love scene accompanied by a soft and slow song. The love song utilized the classic Indian string instrument, the sitar, one of my most favorite instruments. They combined soft synth drones, tabla drums, and sitar playing the melody. The audience was fanatical about the dancing. I don’t know much about dancing but it looked very impressive.

Humanities House is a learning community not based in one major or school of study; rather it is a group that focuses on aspects of life that we can all relate to. Anyone of any major can find enjoyment in Humanities House. The Bollywood fashion of music uses a similar idea: they combine their traditional musical compositions into the contemporary music of America. That way they can relate to both the new and old of India. Overall I was intrigued with the music because I’m a big fan of Hindustani Classical Music, specifically the raga style of tabla accompanied sitar performances. Though only one song utilized a sitar the rest of the music had a great combination of traditional and contemporary music.