Berklee’s Women of the World Wrap Up Asia Tour This Week

For the 106 workshop participants that vocalist and Berklee College of Music faculty Annette Philip and her team chose for their bootcamp in New Delhi, there was a “gratitude box.” It’s where students (selected from over 220 applications from the subcontinent) wrote down “affirmations.”

Ahead of their culminating finale concert on August 26th in New Delhi, Philip says she found a beautiful note. She reads it out for us. “Some people love music, some people are loved by music. I hope that everyone sitting by the hall today gets an opportunity to build a relationship with music that includes both these aspects.”

In their open environment that features musicians of all ages attending the fifth Berklee Tandon Global Clinics across five cities ”“ Pune, Kolkata, New Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru ”“ Philip and her fellow clinicians have found instrumentalists, vocalists, parents of students and the local culture “overwhelming” and positive. Joined by Japanese vocalist Ayumi Ueda, Haitian/American artist Debo Ray, Canadian percussionist/drummer Patrick Simard and Italian vocalist Giorgia Renosto, their group ”“ Women of the World ”“ are making their India debut after performing around the globe since 2008.

Philip, who has previously worked with her own artist collaboration platform Artistes Unlimited (co-founded in 2003), formed the Berklee Indian Ensemble in 2011 (now best known for next-level covers of songs like “Jiya Jale”) and subsequently co-founded Berklee India Exchange in 2013. The aim throughout has been collaboration, cross-culture communication and education. She says, “I hope more musicians understand this power of collective energy, of collaborative action and bond and find ways to support each other.”

While the bootcamp culminates into a showcase of over 100 applicants in New Delhi, Women of the World are nearly done hosting clinics and gigs. A set that crosses over 32 languages (which Philip informs has scaled up to 34, including Bengali and Hakka after trips to Kolkata and Taiwan respectively) will be presented at gig series Under a Banyan Tree on a Full Moon Night (by event organizers Teamworks) on August 25th in New Delhi, followed by Fandom at Gilly’s Redefined in Bengaluru on August 28th (put together by local promoters Ben&Flow) and a secret show on August 30th. Philip adds, “It’s just about having fun with our voices in myriad ways to spread fun in a million ways.”

Watch Women of the World perform “Dere Na”