Making music collaboratively

I was at "The Light Within" last night here in London at Cadogan Hall. It showcased the Ismaili Community Ensemble (ICE), the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and Alim Qasimov's team of musicians from Azerbaijan.

The ICE played a few numbers first, and Qasimov and crew came on after the interval. Later, both groups were on stage and recreated one of Qasimov's pieces that was representative of Central Asian vibes.

The photo is a quick snap I took without anybody looking during the collaborative performance. The four people in the front in red are Alim Qasimov and crew, and the surrounding band is part of the ICE. The pieces they individually as well as collaboratively performed were beautiful. They brought back in me a sense of the lighter yet powerful sounds I don't usually hear in my dose of electronic beats.

A lot of what I've been stuck on doing in the last few years is building information collaboratively. But yesterday I realized that information is wide and deep, and is not restricted to text on print. It is encompassed in music, illustration, sound and emotion. Who says we can't use multiple forms of learning to create, exchange and develop knowledge?

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