Debjit Mahalanobis and His Gajveena
Debjit Mahalanobis in Conversation with Neil Leonard
THE BLANC is pleased to present Debjit Mahalanobis and His Gajveena, an intimate evening of music, conversation, and artistic exchange with Debjit Mahalanobis, a double bassist, composer, and instrument inventor from India, in conversation with Neil Leonard, composer, saxophonist/clarinetist, transdisciplinary artist, and Professor Emeritus at Berklee College of Music.
The program centers on Mahalanobis’s work with the Gajveena, an instrument he developed through his exploration of Indian classical traditions, contemporary performance, and experimental instrument-making. Through live sharing and conversation, Mahalanobis will introduce the instrument’s sound, form, and creative development, offering insight into the relationship between musical practice, craftsmanship, material experimentation, and performance.
In dialogue with Leonard, the evening will open onto broader questions of artistic process: how instruments shape the music they make possible, how traditions are reinterpreted through contemporary practice, and how sound can emerge through a close relationship between body, object, and gesture.
Artists
Debjit Mahalanobis
Debjit Mahalanobis is a double bassist, composer, and instrument inventor from India. His practice brings together Indian classical traditions, contemporary performance, experimental instrument-making, sound, craftsmanship, and material experimentation. He is the creator of the Gajveena, an instrument developed through his exploration of Indian classical traditions and contemporary performance.
Neil Leonard
Neil Leonard is a composer, saxophonist/clarinetist, and transdisciplinary artist whose work spans sound, installation, performance, film, and visual art. He is Professor Emeritus at Berklee College of Music and has collaborated with artists including Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, Fujiko Nakaya, Phill Niblock, and Tony Oursler. His projects have been presented at Tate Modern, Documenta, the Venice Biennale, Whitney Biennial, Mass MoCA, and MIT Media Lab.
