DECEMBER 5, 2001  ARIANE GRAY-HUBERT   “ Dawn to Dusk” ”    Ariane Gray-Hubert, an accomplished French musician (Paris, Vienna, Hanover) and exceptional classical pianist, shows a great versatility in several musical domains that include piano solo, chamber music and vocal accompaniment. She is a soloist nonpareil, with a vast and varied repertoire that encompasses Bach to Beethoven as well as 20th century composers. In an effort to stimulate new cultural exchanges, she initiated a series of musical events in 1996, concerning different themes in France and abroad such as well known and lesser-known French Music of the 20th century, especially the Baltic States. She was invited to major festivals in India in 1997 and 1998 for the Carnatic music festivals in Chennai and in Varanasi.

S Karthick is a renowned percussionist carrying on the legacy of his guru Vikku Vinayakram. He has performed all over the world with leading artists and leads his own percussion ensemble “Heart Beat”.

“Dawn to Dusk”, is a musical re-creation exploring the relationship between musical rhythms and the cycles of day and night. Brought in collaboration with the Alliance Francaise De Madras, the evening provided a mosaic of melodic and rhythmic variations on piano played by Ariane, offering the audience her own vision and understanding of the Eastern and the Western traditions. She was accompanied by Karthick on the ghatam. The evening started with the recitation of the Sanskrit mantra ‘gananam thva’ by Ariane. To her piano playing, she even recited verses from Thyagaraja’s Pancharatna kritis to the accompaniment of the ghatam. In ‘Khillona – Thillana’, Ariane and Karthick held a mock musical fight in French and Tamil.

How did your collaboration come about?
I had in mind an interaction with an Indian percussionist but we only started to work after my arrival in Chennai around November. We worked around my ideas by blending a few items like this. It's also the first time I'm working with an Indian percussionist. When I first came to India, I've heard him play, and I was really concentrating on his peculiar instrument and his accompanying of the artistes.

Did you start your collaboration a year ago?
About a year ago, we talked about a collaboration, but we actually started only a few days ago when I arrived in Chennai.

Isn't it just 3 days ago that you met Karthick and you kind of created all this in just 3 days?!
Yes, it is. Now, I have a question for the public. How did you like the different kinds of acoustic instruments - the piano and the ghatam?
 - It was truly wonderful.

The last 'thillana' item was very interesting and we'd have enjoyed it better but we did not understand the French spoken.
Karthick: I didn't understand it either!

It seemed very improvised. Was the whole thing improvised?
Yes, except the tham thi tha ka tham tha ki ta toom. I've worked on it before. For this particular 2 sentences, I want to pay tribute to Aruna Sayeeram who's in the audience. I had the great honor to meet her and work with her. We're working on something else together. We actually met in Mumbai. She told me a few specific Carnatic forms and more than once she sang to me the complexity of the thillana. Tonight, I've tried to recite what she taught me and was able to understand what Karthick was going to say. I think thillana is one of the greatest forms in Carnatic style. It has a lot of vitality, fantastic words and syllables and naturally it reflects on the Indian audience, their ability to be expressive and full of imagination.

Have you ever thought of having a dancer join you?
Yes. Actually, I thought of a mime artist, because to work with mime is very interesting as well. Maybe a trio with mime, or a quartet with mime, percussionist, singer and me on piano. There are many possibilities, but first we must understand each other.

You're so steeped in Indian tradition and have played for all the stalwarts in the field of music. So, how did you feel accompanying a western instrument like the piano?
Karthick: I felt great. I'd like to share some nice thoughts with you. As Indians, we are very sentimental, as you know. She started the show with 'Gananaam thvaa' which is very beautiful and for a French person (half-French, half-American) to recite it was indeed remarkable. Even we find it slightly difficult to recite these hymns. Also, she very nicely infused the Gregorian chants in Latin. A nice mix of Latin and Sanskrit. She has taken some ideas from the Pancharatna of Saint Thyagaraja, which is difficult even for us Indians or South Indians in the Carnatic music circle; she played it with 100% perfection.

e-mail: arianemusic@yahoo.fr