Trina Basu & Arun Ramamurthy - "Offering" (Official Video)

Описание: NAKSHATRA is out January 20, 2023 on SPINSTER
Buy from label (vinyl/CD/digital): https://basumurthy.bandcamp.com/album...

On their transformative debut album Nakshatra, violinists Trina Basu and Arun Ramamurthy reach both deep into their past and high into the celestial realm, culminating in a lush and spiritual collaboration that bridges traditions and defies genres. A Sanskrit word evocative of constellations, stars, and interconnectedness, nakshatra perfectly encapsulates the album’s expansive sound, which quite surprisingly, is made by just two violins vibrating together in sublime harmony. Profoundly intimate yet bearing a cinematic gravitas, this work five years in the making conveys a feeling of two souls in conversation spanning hundreds of years into the past and the future.

Basu (Karavika) and Ramamurthy (Arun Ramamurthy Trio) are deeply rooted in traditions of South Indian classical music, Western chamber music, and jazz, uniquely positioning them to create a sound that feels ancient, orchestral, and contemporary or as The New Yorker put it, “free-flowing and globe-spanning.” Through the duo’s grounding in tradition paired with their fluency in improvisation, the compositions on Nakshatra have a clear architecture, which allows space for their two violins to be deliciously indiscernible while shining individually. Basu says of the duo’s collaboration, “Our hope for our music is to be a meeting point for the tradition of South Indian classical music—raga music—that Arun comes from and Western classical music and creative improvisation that I come from, and bring these pieces together in a way that creates a sound that reflects who we are, a sound that reflects our multicultural background, and our experiences in this world.”

From the first track, “Offering,” listeners slowly awaken into the shimmering realm of Nakshatra. The duo take turns laying a soothing foundational drone and introducing their personal voices in a supportive and harmonious dynamic which permeates the whole album. Basu and Ramamurthy say of the song, “We recorded Nakshatra in Brooklyn, NY during the heart of the pandemic, when the city was shut down and the streets were deserted. It was an unexpected period of isolation for our family and so many New Yorkers. We found our peace of mind in Prospect Park, a natural oasis in the center of this concrete jungle, which helped us turn anxiety and concern into feelings of reflection and hope. This is our 'Offering' to Prospect Park, a thank you to the land of the Lenape people, for breathing life into us and reminding us of the beauty in the world.”