Kolkatans to be treated to Gaelic music today

'Yatra; Journey, a live music concert' will be a tribute to Scottish army officer Colin Mackenzie, who travelled from the Isle of Lewis to Indian shores in 1783 to study about the culture and languages of the country, Debanjan Chakrabarti, the director of British Council East and North East India, said on Friday.

"The programme will see a confluence of Indian classical music and Gaelic songs from Scotland. There is an eclectic mix of musicians involved in this project," he said.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of British Council in India, Chakrabarti said, adding that the concert is musical homage to the epic journey Mackenzie made to India.

UK-based Tabla player Dalbir Singh Rattan, one of the participants of the concert, said the 12 'Sur' (musical notes) is the same for both western and Indian music.

"No matter what the country, music speaks the same language everywhere," he said.

Catherine Maclean of An Lanntair said, "We worked on this project for five years. There is a huge collection of Mackenzie's souvenirs at Indian Museum and Asiatic Society."

The museum has also organised a Colin Mackenzie exhibition on this occasion, Maclean said.

Mackenzie, a Scottish army officer in the British East India Company, became the first Surveyor General of India in 1810. He was an orientalist and a collector of antiquities.