Photo Jan Prpič
Breda Sturm – painting, Sabiha Khan – vocal, Vinayak Netke – tabla, Šemsudin Dino Džopa – guitar, Tilen Stepišnik – guitar
The project was initiated by Breda Sturm, who has been exploring the symbolism and semantic range of Morse code for several years. This sign language was one of the first modern methods of distant communication, in which two different signal durations called dots and dashes are combined to represent text characters. Keeping that as the backbone of the project, Breda invited Slovenian guitarists Šemsudin Dino Džopa and Tilen Stepišnik of Duo Aritmija, along with vocalist Sabiha Khan and tabla-player and composer Vinayak Netke from India, to create a symphony of music and painting, interlocked by the rhythmic pattern of Morse. The artists replaced the Western solmisation – do re mi fa so la ti do – with their Indian counterpart – sa re ga ma pa dha ni sa – and translated them to Morse code. This resulted in a series of unique rhythmic patterns on the basis of which the musicians created seven new musical compositions. The songs follow the circle of fourths and are synchronised with the brush strokes of the painter, who visualises the translated solmisation syllables with additional rhythmic accents. At the end of the performance, the artists return to the beginning of the circle, which is also its end. The distinct telegraph sound of the Morse code constantly leads the artists from start to finish. This coming together of sight and sound, of music and painting, showcases the interconnected nature of aesthetic expression in all its glory. Supported by the Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia in New Delhi, this innovative project made its debut in Delhi and Mumbai to a rousing response. In July 2019 Morse Art Project was presented to the Slovenian audience at the Dobimo se pred Škucem Festival.
Cameras: Igor Velše, Tilen Stepišnik, Sound: Simon Debelec, Sound and video mix: Tilen Stepišnik