limor Ballas, an Israeli song writer and singer recently performed with multiple bands in genres ranging from Rock and Blues to Jazz and Bossa Nova at the Effervescence in Allahabad and at the Rendezvous ’16 at IIT Delhi. She speaks to Saritha Saraswathy Balan on how her visit to India transformed the musician in her.
limor Ballas was in Himachal Pradesh when she accidently ran into the organiser of Effervescence — the cultural fiesta — that recently concluded at Allahabad. She had come to India in search of the ‘right’ energy for her second album. And, Ballas says the rest is history that changed her whole life. Her maiden visit to the country has left the musician in Ballas transformed.
“It was my first visit to India and nothing was pre-planned,” she recalls. Ballas ended up collaborating with sarod player Soumalya Sareswary, handpan player Abhinav Deodhar and singer Rahul Singh. She could even play with local musicians at the Rendezvous ’16 students’ cultural festival at IIT Delhi. “It has been great collaborating with them. Music is a continuous process. One that can never have a final note to it,” she opines. She likes to perform Blues, and a little bit of Jazz, though her favorite is fusion.
Ballas believes that there is scope for fusion in almost all forms of music, not just in Jazz alone. Same is the case with improvisation. “Fusion and improvisation are possible in all kind of music forms, though Jazz does offer a greater scope. Music always conveys something very special. And collaboration is similar to the mating of two different species in nature, which brings forth stronger and unique progenies,” she laughs.
She is amazed by the response she garnered from her audience in India, and feels that they are very open-minded, which thus provides the musician ample scope. This can be -at the same time- both interesting and challenging.
Ask her about her fusion with an ‘alien’ sort of music, she smiles, “It is music, and that always originates from the heart. It comes from the same source and aspires to reach one’s soul.”
Invitation to perform at Rendezvous also came somewhat as a surprise to Ballas. She had wanted to catch up with an old friend who works with the Embassy of Israel in India. When the friend got to know that Ballas was in Delhi, she was invited to perform at Rendezvous that was being organised by the Embassy. “My visit to India has proved to be life-changing, leaving me fascinated by all the experiences I have been through,” she reiterates in unbridled enthusiasm. She also had the opportunity to perform at the Rajasthan Desert Festival and confesses to being overwhelmed by the state’s musical heritage that is steeped in tradition. She says, “All this happened by chance…nothing was pre-planned. My journey to India began as a solo private act, which is how I like to travel. But at the end, it turned out to be a musical trip.”
‘In Phase of Myself’ was Ballas’ first album and she is now working on her second. Her journey to India was undertaken to partake of a ‘waking’ experience, one which she felt would enrich her new project. Along the way, she ended up falling in love with the sarod, and Indian music as a whole.