In 2018, Gatecrash organised a tour for Alexander Herer’s band - OXYD and as a part of the tour they played a concert at the community centre of an NGO based out of Dharavi, Mumbai - Acorn Foundation.

The centre was packed with kids who had never heard ‘Jazz’ in their lives before, but that didn’t matter, the kids loved the music, they grooved and danced, lapping up the music as if it was their own. The band also spoke to the kids about rhythm & improvisation, and they were joined by young rappers & beatboxers from the community & the gig turned into an impromptu Jazz Hip-Hop jam. The kids & the musicians both went back with massive smiles on their faces and also with a sense that they were just a part of something special.

Little did she know back then, but this particular gig would turn out to be the inspiration behind Emmanuelle de Decker (founder of Gatecrash) for kick-starting a project called Music Mulakatein – a series of free concerts & workshops in collaboration with local and foreign artists as well as Indian NGO’s to host Music Mulakatein at various locations like slums, old age homes, hospitals etc.

Under this avatar, Music Mulakatein was launched in September 2018 at the After School of Hip-Hop in collaboration with The Dharavi Dream Project, and since then Gatecrash has hosted 15 such concerts / workshops in various parts of Mumbai.

The universe has a funny way of working sometime and here we are almost 20 months later where Gatecrash is hosting Music Mulakatein’s 1st Artistic Residency in collaboration with Alexandre Herer Nunataq experimental jazz trio from Paris and The Dharavi Dream Project, an after school of hiphop nurturing, mentoring and empowering under-resourced hip-hop talent from Dharavi.

The residency will delve into Alexandre Herer’s trio’s jazz music and infuse it with rap, slam, and dance. Through this collaboration the residency aims to establish a common ground for both sets of artists to work together to learn, un-learn, experiment, deconstruct and create new music resulting in the vision set out by the artist.

The residency will delve into Alexandre Herer's trio's jazz music and infuse it with rap... Through this collaboration supported by Institut francais India & Alliance francaise de Bombay, the residency aims to establish a common ground for both sets of artists to work together to learn, un-learn, experiment, deconstruct and create new music resulting in the vision set out by the artist.

The residency has gigs in Mumbai

Wednesday, November 20 | Tete a Tete at Alliance Francaise de Bombay

Thursday, November 21 | FLEA Bazaar Café, Mumbai