Music: A leading innovator and influencer of global Indian music
Annette Philip, Artistic Director of the Berklee Indian Ensemble in Boston, shares insights on why the renowned institution’s music collective has risen to global prominence and can brag about “300 million hits, a star-studded debut album, and a Grammy nomination.”
“I envisioned for the Berklee Indian Ensemble to be artistically porous. I’ve seen firsthand in all my other collaborative projects that magic is created when you’re allowed to bring all that you are to a creative space,” says Annette Phillip (fourth, from left).
Annette Philip walks out in front of her keyboard to stand alongside her two lead vocalists.
Raising her hands, she beckons to the crowd to express themselves “vociferously.” The throng, assembled at the Ferst Center for the Arts at Georgia Tech during their recent performance, doesn’t need to be asked twice. They have been whistling and clapping along since the opening number “Ghoomar.”
“There’s a palpable joy that people get at our shows and even from our music videos,” says Philip, founder and artistic director of the Berklee Indian Ensemble (BIE), a musical collective rooted in traditional Indian repertoire and imbued with global infusions.
The ensemble has been promoting their Grammy-nominated album, aptly titled Shuruaat (“Beginning”), as it is their debut album featuring 98 musicians from 39 countries, including Indian music royalty such as Ustad Zakir Hussain, Bollywood superstar Shreya Ghoshal, virtuosic singers Shankar Mahadevan, Vijay Prakash, and the classical crossover duo Shadow and Light. The 10-track album includes original music, signature Berklee Indian Ensemble tributes to Shakti, and covers of classic Indian songs, which took years to create through a global pandemic.
Philip recalls the challenge of having the artists record their pieces remotely across countries and time zones, and the effort to iron out the legal complexities of extending prorated revenue share to the 98 artists on the album—the first of its kind for the Berklee College of Music. What resulted was a rich collection of uniquely arranged covers and originals that melds choral arrangements with Carnatic, jazz and Hindustani, and progressive rock with Bollywood. Tablas and bass drums pulse to ragas rendered by piano and guitar.
These medleys earned the ensemble a 2023 Grammy nomination for Best Global Album, making BIE the first Berklee official ensemble to earn a nomination. After spending her childhood in Singapore learning piano, recorder, and trumpet, followed by years of schooling in India, during which she explored jazz, soul, and a cappella music, Philip, originally from Kerala, immersed herself deeper in the craft by joining Boston’s Berklee College of Music in 2006. By the time she graduated in 2010, she was offered a full-time position at the college as its first Indian faculty member. Philip has done well and, by making the most of the reputation and resources of a world-class institution such as the Berklee College of Music, she made BIE globally influential.
In her first week, the administration extended her a carte blanche to create something new that would expand the college’s reach and influence. She knew she wanted to use Indian music in all of its forms as a common thread, but she was also eager to cultivate a space for musicians from any place to bring their flavor to the mix. Creating that safe space would mean investing both inside and outside of the classroom to foster camaraderie and bridge cultural barriers.
The Berklee Indian Ensemble at a recent Georgia Tech concert in Atlanta.
“In 2011, I envisioned and laid the foundation for the Berklee Indian Ensemble to be artistically porous. I’ve seen firsthand in all my other collaborative projects that magic is created when you’re allowed to bring all that you are to a creative space.” Soon, an interdisciplinary collective was formed where students comfortably riffed off of one another, and it’s that energy that Philip attributes to the viral success of the group.
She says she receives messages from listeners of how the ensemble’s spirited music videos have helped people through challenging times, with the 2014 A.R Rahman tribute show proving to be a fan favorite. The maestro himself joined the group for that sold-out performance which reached 66,000 online viewers and more than 50 million views to date. “It’s a global sound, something you can access no matter what your background is,” Philip explains.
The professional recording and touring ensemble was formed organically from the group of returning musicians each semester. Today, the pro team is led by 11 full-time members representing India, Jordan, Iraq, Israel, Nigeria, Indonesia, Norway, the U.S, and other regions across the globe. Regardless of their country of origin, one thing is clear: participating in the ensemble has allowed each member to explore their own roots. “In many cases the Berklee Indian Ensemble was their entryway into their culture. This was a very accessible doorway to learn their own roots for every person who has joined, whether they are of South Asian descent or from the diaspora or from Poland...”
Such connections to one’s roots could manifest in something as simple as wearing their country’s traditional attire while performing—a sari or veshti—for the first time or learning their mother tongue.
Philip herself wore a Kancheepuram sari to the Grammy’s earlier this year, and when asked on the red carpet who she was wearing, she said, “This is a traditional Kancheepuram saree from India. So, it is created by weavers in our country. I am happy to wear my country and my culture.”
Cultural expression has served the ensemble well, helping define its sound, journey, accomplishments, and trajectory, as they gear up for a world tour in 2024-25, and have already begun planning their second album which will likely be all originals inspired by the diverse mix of its members. “We are invested in learning, experimenting, focusing on what’s similar and exciting to us in the moment,” Philip says. “You bring something to the table, and you leave enriched from the variety of experiences.”
Amritha Alladi Joseph, a former reporter for Gannett newspapers, The Hindu, The Gainesville Sun, Gainesville Magazine, and CNN-IBN, is now a consulting manager at EY and lives in Sandy Springs, Georgia, with her husband and two children.
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