Metaraga, by Purna Loka Ensemble

Metaraga

by Purna Loka Ensemble

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It will come with CD line notes and the beautiful cover designs and inside design by designers Jessica Irving and John Bishop.

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1.	Syzygy 08:46	info	buy track
2.	Aboghi Varnam 07:56	info	buy track
3.	Triality - Movement I 06:28	info	buy track
4.	Triality - Movement II 04:11	info	buy track
5.	Triality - Movement III 05:13	info	buy track
6.	Alabama 08:19	info	buy track
7.	Vatapi Ganapatim 17:33	info	buy track
8.	Fibration 07:26	info	buy track

about

Indian classical violinist and mathematician Purnaprajna Bangere has created a new musical syntax based on a geometric framework that integrates Indian classical music and Western music, encompassing elements from classical, blues and jazz. The result opens new frontiers with exciting new sounds and structures that transcend known genres of music. Most of his current compositional work of Purna is with multi Grammy winning director of Turtle Island String Quartet David Balakrishnan. Joining Purna and David to complete the ensemble are bass virtuoso Jeff Harshbarger from Kansas City and the talented Amit Kavthekar from Boston on Tabla. Their CD "Metaraga" has been released under the prestigious label "Origin Records" on January 17, 2020.

Metaraga is a systematic musical framework deeply inspired by ideas and concepts in Algebraic Geometry introduced by Alexander Grothendieck. The journey may start from any of the known genres, traverse into other musical worlds, and ultimately arrive in a “no man’s land,” i.e., music with no east or west.

The roots of this concept originated from viewing Indian musical structure, a raga, not as a single entity over a fixed drone, but in a family. This has familiar sound when seen purely from a key change perspective of the scale, but this is a limited view. A family—herein called a 'fibration'--will immediately generate vertical and horizontal components. A new system with its own grammar and syntax involving the above needs to address not only smooth transitions along both horizontal and vertical components, but also take into consideration the transitional microtones (a central formative aspect of Indian music known as "Gamaka") in the horizontal movements. This dictates not only introduction of new ragas close to the original Indian ones, but also introduction of newer microtones and expansion of the definition of a raga; ergo the term Metaraga.

Like any established musical vocabulary such as is found in classical Indian raga or western systems, the Metaraga framework generates grammar and syntax of its own with rules and discipline that are repeatable. For example, one of the key entities that facilitate this are the microtones found in American Blues. Not merely an aesthetic need, the blues provide an actual technical necessity. Viewing this retrospectively, it is indeed deeply satisfying to note that western and eastern sounds are bridged into harmonious synthesis by African and African American sounds, due to their universally shared foundational nature.

Such endeavors reflect the personal journey of their creators spanning various lands and music that has moved them deeply. Ultimately this intimates a music unfettered by conventional points of reference, with a developing aesthetic centered around the framework symbolizing universal brotherhood and sisterhood, going beyond the perceived cultural and civilizational dichotomies. Like the large part common biological DNA of humans across the biosphere, from this framework a common musical DNA that has a universal presence among various musical paradigms reveals itself.

Needless to say, I am deeply influenced by Indian classical music, western classical music, American Blues, Jazz and Folk music, and the masters who have practiced them. I owe much to my great teacher H. K. Narasimhamurthy for training in the formative years, his liberal outlook and his legendary guru M. S. Gopalakrishnan for his deep aesthetics and overall influence on me. My deep debt of gratitude to the legendary mathematician Alexander Grothendieck for his breathtakingly broad vision of mathematics, which I realize is applicable in other situations as well.

credits

released January 17, 2020

PERFORMERS:
Purnaprajna Bangere: Violin I (and Solo Violin)
David Balakrishnan: Violin II
Jeff Harshbarger: Bass
Amit Kavthekar: Tabla
With Special Guest Robert Walzel on Clarinet (Track 6)

COMPOSITIONS BY:
(1,3,4,5) Purnaprajna Bangere/David Balakrishnan
(Purna Loka Music/Balapadam Music, BMI)
(2) Patnam Subramania Iyer (trad.);
(6) John Coltrane (JowcolMusic, BMI);
(7) Muthuswami Dikshitar (trad.);
(8) Purnaprajna Bangere (Purna Loka Music, BMI)

PRODUCTION INFO:
Produced by David Balakrishnan and Purnaprajna Bangere
Recorded: October 23-25, 2018 & April 10, 2019
at Swarthout Recital Hall, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS
Engineered by Brock J. Babcock, Lawrence, KS
Mastered by Paul duGre, Los Angeles, CA
Photography: Oliver Hall
Ensemble Photography: Oliver Hall
Front cover graphic design: Jessica Irving
Cover layout by John Bishop
Publishing Label: Origin Records

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about

Purna Loka Ensemble Kansas

Purna Loka Ensemble is comprised of Indian classical violinist and mathematician, Purnaprajna Bangere, Grammy-winning violinist and director of the Turtle Island String Quartet, David Balakrishnan, bass virtuoso Jeff Harshbarger, and deeply talented Amit Kavthekar on the Tabla.Their album, "Metaraga" has been released under the prestigious label "Origin Records" in January 2020. ... more

purnaviolin.com

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