Neelamjit Dhillon Quartet & Isaura String Quartet: Komagata Maru at Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater

About

Bringing influences from North Indian classical music and jazz into a distinctive contemporary form, this deeply felt nine-part epic of human perseverance reflects on the Komagata Maru Incident of 1914—the ordeal imposed on 376 travelers from India, all British subjects, who had chartered a Japanese cargo ship to Canada in contravention of arbitrary laws targeting immigrants from Asia. Conceived by composer and multi-instrumentalist Neelamjit Dhillon to draw out the emotional and psychological resonance of a teachable historical moment, the extraordinary musical landscape of Komagata Maru is realized by a double quartet—Dhillon’s group plus the Isaura String Quartet—and shaped into a rich, multisensory experience with spoken-word narration and projected archival visuals.