Alliance Française de Dhaka (AFD), in collaboration with the Liberation War Museum, staged the genre-defying musical production Bombay Experience on Wednesday night, offering Dhaka audiences an evening where Carnatic rhythmic rigour, Indian hip-hop poetry and contemporary jazz improvisation intersected with startling coherence.
Held at the Liberation War Museum Auditorium, the concert assembled a cosmopolitan ensemble whose synergy showed how disparate musical vocabularies can meet, merge and mature without losing their individual identities.
The performance featured French pianist-composer Alexandre Herer; drummer Pierre Mangeard; bassist Gaël Petrina; Carnatic mridangam and konnakol maestro B. C. Manjunath; and rapper-lyricist Manmeet Kaur.
Each artist brought a distinctive sonic character while shaping a collective narrative. Their collaboration, developed across exchanges in India, France and a residency preceding the project’s 2024 world premiere in Grenoble, unfolded in Dhaka as a layered dialogue of tone, rhythm and form.
Welcoming the audience, AFD Director François Chambraud underlined the institution’s long-standing commitment to cultural exchange and artistic experimentation. He described the project as “jazz, classical music, rap, poetry and contemporary experimentation brought into a single, vibrant conversation.”
Chambraud also reaffirmed AFD’s partnership with the Liberation War Museum, announcing a follow-up masterclass in Dhanmondi to extend the exchange beyond the stage.
French Embassy Deputy Head of Mission Frédéric Inza echoed the sentiment, recalling France’s early support for Bangladesh’s independence and the deepening cultural cooperation between the two countries. Citing joint exhibitions, collaborative programming and institutional partnerships, he praised the museum’s role in shaping Dhaka’s cultural landscape.
The roots of Bombay Experience lie in Herer’s encounters with Mumbai’s rap and beatbox scene, particularly in Dharavi, and his later meeting with Manjunath, whose mathematically infused approach to Carnatic rhythm resonated with Herer’s own compositional systems. These influences grew into a repertoire in which konnakol, jazz harmony, French rhythmic experimentation and Indian rap stand as equals, resulting in a soundscape grounded in tradition yet boldly exploratory.
On December 4, AFD’s Dhanmondi premises hosted the promised masterclass with Herer, Manjunath and Manmeet Kaur. Musicians and students engaged closely with the trio’s creative processes: Herer explained his polyrhythmic frameworks; Manjunath unpacked the architecture of Carnatic rhythm; and Kaur discussed identity, lyrical craft and the politics of voice in contemporary rap.
The session concluded with an impromptu jam featuring Bangla, Hindi and French rap woven into jazz grooves, an echo of the project’s ethos of open exchange.
Speaking to the TIMES of Bangladesh, Manmeet Kaur said she felt a deep kinship with the Dhaka audience. “I felt like I was speaking to my people,” she said. “In my improvisation, the words they gave me proved how connected the audience was with our performances.”
French pianist-composer Alexandre Herer also reflected on the evening, describing the Dhaka crowd as “very friendly, very close,” and expressing his desire to return to explore Bangladeshi musical traditions. “Travelling with music means meeting musicians. Next time, I want to meet more jazz and traditional artists here.”
