The story of ANIMATA started with a project in Germany by modern art museum Kloster Gravenhorst that commissioned jazz drummer Christoph Haberer in 2014. There he met vocalist Sarah Buechi, and vivid exchanges prior to rehearsals revealed how similar their ideas and philosophies on music were, thus starting their unique collaboration in music. More than a year later, ANIMATA has come to India for a nation-wide tour, in association with Goethe-Institut Chennai, that kickstarted with an energetic performance in the city recently.
A conversation with Sarah Beuchi reveals that this isn’t their first time in India. Christoph’s various music projects has brought him to Chennai four times! Sarah herself trained under gurus R.A. Ramamani and T.A.S. Mani at their college of percussion (KCP) in Bengaluru a few years ago in classical Carnatic music. “As I heard this music for the first time I knew that there was an ocean of knowledge to draw from. Trying to grasp a little bit of it opened a lot of my general view about music,” says Sarah.
ANIMATA’s music itself reflects the artists’ experiences in India, which Sarah describes as a ‘playful integration of Indian elements’. The energy in the music, which is a fusion of electronic, jazz, free improvisation and pop, are furthered by the lyrics that incorporates mythology and relies on symbolism. “I draw lyrical inspiration sometimes from English, Irish and American modern poetry but mainly from life itself and from my interaction and philosophical thinking about life, the world and its habitants. As Christoph lives in Germany and Sarah partly in London, partly in Switzerland many of the first few of compositions have been formed and worked at by sending music files, lyrics, form ideas and discussions on how and what the music shall sound like back and forth,” Sarah
concludes.
