Different Trains 1947 Featuring Actress Announces More Indian Collaborators

As part of the 2017 UK and India year of culture, an alliance of innovative organisations and titans of the arts from both the United Kingdom and India have come together to commission an artistic work: ‘Different Trains 1947’.

With the initial announcement came a wave of fanfare and now new names have been added to the event alongside confirmed venues and dates. Percussionist Jivraj Singh and Hindustani vocalist Priya Purushothaman have been added to the list alongside Actress, Sandunes and Jack Barnett (of These New Puritans). With filmmakers and artists Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard (creators of Nick Cave documentary ‘20,000 Days of Earth’), the team will present 3 audiovisual over 3 months.

‘Different Trains 1947’ will premiere in Liverpool on 27 September at Edge Hill Railway Station before heading to London at the Barbican on 1 October for Transcender 2017. The event will finish up at Magnetic Fields Festival in Alsisar, Rajasthan on 17 December.



"I've taken the opportunity to approach this piece from a really personal place. My grandfather was from Karachi, Pakistan and moved to Bombay in 1945. I felt moved to tie 1947 into the piece through his story and will be using sections from an interview recording with my Grandmother as one of the main themes within the piece. I think it can be really purposeful using artistic pieces to shine light on parts of history that are often not talked about. That partition of India brought about the largest mass-migration in human history, is not a well known theme.” - Sandunes

"[The train] forms a vital arterial network that now represents the only truly egalitarian connection between all corners of the country, all classes and creeds of people. During Partition, the trains served as a lifeline to transport people from their home spaces which had once been safe to a new home that was a huge unknown.” - Priya Purushothaman

‘Different Trains 1947’ is presented by Metal, a Liverpool-based British artistic laboratory in collaboration with Warp Records, Boiler Room, Barbican Centre, Wild City and What About Art?

Boiler Room recently accompanied the artists to Mumbai where they met local musicians and captured field recordings. You can check out the video below and stay tuned for more details.