Three Songs for Hindustani Vocalist, Soprano, and Sinfonietta

Played by the Soli Ensemble in 2021. Composed in 2021.

Last winter, during COVID, I wanted to write the saddest music I could
think of.

It's the music of a slow thaw, earth
releasing itself from winter into spring
A spring that comes too soon, too abruptly,
violently -- erratically.

This spring, this fictional thaw: is slow. And I,
myself: falling, falling, falling
melting, melting
Let every hurt fall away, let
every hurt heal.
It's the sound of one long, pandemic exhalation. We've been indoors with our thoughts for so long... There are hurts and pains that finally saw the light of day, in here, in these four walls - sometimes to be acknowledged and released, and other times to linger with others. And linger. And linger.

And I,
myself: falling, falling, falling
melting, melting
Let every hurt fall away, let
every hurt heal.
Many thanks to the Soli Ensemble and Alexandra Gardner for their role in the creation of this piece.

Image: Detail from "Dancer (12)" 2016 charcoal on paper, by Kamini Avril

Melting

For Solo Viola.
In live performance by Calvin Green in 2021. Composed in 2021.

"Flood" synthesizes my anxiety - a flood of emotion during 2020-2021. I have
dreams of water, where it's like this metaphor for emotion becomes literal:
flood of emotions actually come close to engulfing me. Isn't it cool how
dreams make metaphors literal?

Unlike many of my other works, there's a lot of anxiety in this music. My
breath is stunted and then returns.

There is anxiety over the pandemic, over our environmental crisis, and a
visceral response to the Jan 6, 2021 riots at the US Capitol. Fear, anxiety,
anger. Anger at misused anger. Anger at white supremacy. Anger at blatant
disrespect, of people and the environment.

In the confinement of the pandemic, we seek relief and we seek to escape.
Anxiety holds me but I have moments of escape, moments of joy, moments
of creativity.

I don't know where I'd be right now without a community of musicians to
collaborate with, even virtually. Many thanks to Calvin Green for his
willingness to engage discomfort with endless patience, to talk, and find
solutions. What an interesting instrument the viola is, to speak all these
complicated emotions through. So brash, throaty, and powerful. And the
ability to scratch! The ability to scratch, to be suffocated, and finally, to
breathe.

Commissioned by Calvin Green in 2020 to commemorate the 1919 Berkshire Festival Competition. This work was partially supported by a SPARC Graduate Research Grant from the Office of the Vice President for Research at the University of South Carolina.

Image: "Flying Apart" by Kamini Avril (oil on canvas)

Flood

Performed by newEar in 2021, composed in 2018.
For flute/alto flute, bass clarinet, violin, cello, vibraphone and piano with optional dance.

"Enough, to Unfold" explores specific colors inspired by Raag Madhuwanti (an evening Raag) in Hindustani music. I tried to capture the kinds of phrases one perceives while watching a Hindustani singer perform; their hands frequently move in small, graceful gestures, visually amplifying the musical phrases they are singing.
 
The title refers to my personal challenge in music - and in life. I want to choose just
enough detail, to allow the phrases to unfold naturally. The words are rather like a mantra, a focusing tool to help make this happen.

Purchase this track on Bandcamp (performance by Density512): https://density512.bandcamp.com/album/fold-in-fold-out-2

View the original dance/choreography by Akshaya Avril Tucker and Namita Devadas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEPFyjMr_sw

Enough, To Unfold

Featuring Brown University musicians! 
Kabir: I have been thinking of the difference between water and the waves on it. Rising, water’s still water, falling back, it is water, will you give me a hint how to tell them apart? Because someone has made up the word “wave”, do I have to distinguish it from water? / There is a Secret One inside us; the planets in all the galaxies pass through his hands like beads. That is a string of beads one should look at with luminous eyes. (transl. Robert Bly)

Dariyav / The River and the Waves

Fixed media! Created from cello, viola, crickets, owls and cathedral sounds, in fall 2016. My gratitude to Kenny Holmes for recording viola, my mom for sending me virtual owls and crickets from home, and Prof. Russell Pinkston at UT Austin.

Home / Into the Sun

Feat. Karen Baumgartner, flute, Nick Brown, clarinet/bass clarinet, Priya Raman, vocals and manjira, Shankar Tucker, ganjira. Composed, recorded and mixed by Akshaya Avril Tucker for the "Ears, Eyes + Feet" 2017 performance at the University of Texas Austin, with choreography by Priya Raman (and danced by Priya Raman and Akshaya Avril Tucker, with media and lighting by Alex Hanna).
This piece is based on "Vaasakasajja" and "Abhisarika," two heroines of the poetry of Kesavadasa: The woman who awaits her lover, and the woman who fearlessly walks through a storm to meet him. The melodies are based on Ragas Hamir Kalyani and Mishra Piloo.

Nayika

Density512 Lab Orchestra, recorded live on June 25, 2017 in Austin, Texas.
Feat. Aruna Kharod, sitar.
Conducted by Nicholas Perry Clark, Composed by Akshaya Avril Tucker. 

Shaam (Evening) is inspired by a composition in Raga Bihag by Pundit Ravi Shankar, in Vilambit Teentaal (a slow 16-beat cycle). Slowly, the shades of this raga interact and merge with the colors of Western Classical instruments. 
Orchestrated for "sinfonietta": 2 violins, viola, cello, double bass, flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, horn, flugelhorn, trombone, piano and percussion.

Shaam (Sitar Concerto)

In a recording by Shawn Mativetsky and the New Jersey Percussion Ensemble in July, 2017, during Shastra's summer workshop "Composing with Indian Rhythm."
For: Tabla solo, Crotales, Glockenspiel, Vibraphone, Marimba, and Multi-Percussion. 
Dancing Rain is based on Raga Megh and traditional "kaida" compositions from the Benares tabla gharana.

Dancing Rain feat. Shawn Mativetsky

"Breathing Sunlight" is about spending time with our loved ones, knowing that they'll leave us soon. Simple moments, like lying on the grass or in the sun, breathing - moments of conscious or unconscious stillness - feeling the amount of love we can feel in the time we have left. 

The piece is loosely based on the North Indian Classical Raga Bhimpalasi. Premiered by Johnny Gandelsman (violin) and Joshua Roman (cello) on Sept. 19, 2017 in Boonville, CA. Infinite thanks to the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy for Music for making this possible.

Breathing Sunlight (violin & cello)

"Saiyan: Fantasy on a song by Shobha Gurtu" from "Three Songs for Hindustani Vocalist, Soprano and Sinfonietta" (2018) by Akshaya Avril Tucker. Live recording with Saili Oak and the Prismatx Ensemble in Bates Recital Hall (Austin TX)on March 21, 2018. 

Lyrics: 
Saiyan nikas gaye mai na ladi thi
Na kachu boli na kachu chali
Sar ko jhukaye mai to chup ke khadi thi Rang mahal ke das darwaaje
Na jaane kaun si khidki khuli thi
Kahat Kamaali Kabir ki beti
Aise biyahi se to kuwari bhali thi
Kamaali (c.15th Century)

My love is leaving, but I do not resist
In stillness, without my notice, she slipped away.
My royal palace has ten doors
Who knows who opened that window, from which she flew...
As its beloved departs, the mortal body grieves, Said Kamaali, daughter of Kabir.
Transl. Saili Oak & Akshaya Avril Tucker

Image courtesy of painter Kamini Avril (https://www.instagram.com/kaminiavril/)

1. Saiyan | Soul (feat. Saili Oak)

"Geliebte Sakhi | Beloved Friend" from "Three Songs for Hindustani Vocalist, Soprano and Sinfonietta" (2018) by Akshaya Avril Tucker. Live recording with Hindustani Vocalist Saili Oak, Soprano Suzanne Lis and the Prismatx Ensemble, in Bates Recital Hall (Austin TX)on March 21, 2018.

An earlier version of this piece, for mezzo-soprano and sinfonietta, was commissioned by Density512, on the subject of “re-composing” Alma Mahler songs. Thus, the German text and some aspects of its setting comes from Alma Mahler’s Fünf Lieder. In juxtaposing the Heine text with a slow khyal composition in Raag Bageshree, I am creating one human character that sings in two voices. This is a meditative love song, but the lover or friend could be human, divine, abstract — even music itself.

Lyrics:
Ich wandle unter Blumen
Und blühe selber mit,
Ich wandle wie im Traume
Und schwanke bei jedem Schritt. O halt mich fest, Geliebte!
Vor Liebestrunkenheit
Fall' ich dir sonst zu Füßen Und der Garten ist voller Leut!
Heinrich Heine (1797-1856)

I wander among the flowers, blooming, I wander as if in a dream,
swaying at every step.
Oh, hold me close to you!
Enraptured,
I fall at your feet
while the garden breathes the life of thousands!
Transl. Akshaya Avril Tucker

Eri sakhi tyaja maan
Dhara dhyaan, chhaand gumaan Tabhi pave gyaan
Pratamata dhara dhyaan, Sharana eka surajaan,
Pajhe saba miTat agyaan.
Dr. Ashwini Bhide Deshpande (b.1960)

My friend, let go of your arrogance Focus, be compassionate
Let your pride fall away
Surrender to each note
Then you will see that truth:
The artist is the divine servant of music
Transl. Saili Oak & Akshaya Avril Tucker

Image courtesy of painter Kamini Avril (www.instagram.com/kaminiavril/)

2. Geliebte Sakhi | Beloved Friend (feat. Saili Oak and Suzanne Lis)

"Tarana | Dance" from "Three Songs for Hindustani Vocalist, Soprano and Sinfonietta" (2018) by Akshaya Avril Tucker. Live recording with Hindustani Vocalist Saili Oak, Soprano Suzanne Lis, and the Prismatx Ensemble in Bates Recital Hall (Austin TX)on March 21, 2018.

Tarana is based on abstract syllables (“de re na”, “ta na na”) and includes snippets of two Tarana compositions by Dr. Ashwini Bhide Deshpande, in Raag Bhimpalas and Raag Desh. The soprano and Hindustani vocalist explore fast runs (which are frequently improvised) as well as lyrical singing, and play off one another.

Image courtesy of painter Kamini Avril (www.instagram.com/kaminiavril/)

3. Tarana | Dance (feat. Saili Oak & Suzanne Lis)

Performed by Duo Cortona (Rachel Calloway, Ari Streisfeld) at the University of South Carolina on December 7, 2018, under the aegis of the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music. 

Music and Text by Akshaya Avril Tucker. 

"At 6 PM, I walked outside
I found a marble ogre's fingernail
and hid it away
The house held silence
Mama found a golden hair
as it lay in a dusty box
I fastened it around my wrist
a glowing amulet
Oldest friend,
in both senses of the words
Oldest friend, go to sleep
pleasant dreams
That was when
evening sun
turned tree branches
into canals of light
suddenly blessed by the touch
of an ancient grandfather
And the queen of love was installed
luminous, in the full moon
My love is in love
my love is in love
is in love
love"

Of My Grandfather (2018) - Mezzo Soprano and Violin

"Three Songs" (2018) for Hindustani Vocalist, Soprano and Sinfonietta  by Akshaya Avril Tucker. Live recording with Saili Oak, Suzanne Lis and the Prismatx Ensemble at the University of Texas Austin, Bates Recital Hall, on March 21, 2018.

To see the video! Here is the first song: https://youtu.be/3z-uS2Y6kY0
Here are the second and third songs: https://youtu.be/9YuF5r5WSD4

I. Saiyan: Fantasy on a song by Shobha Gurtu (00:00-09:10)
Lyrics: 
Saiyan nikas gaye mai na ladi thi
Na kachu boli na kachu chali
Sar ko jhukaye mai to chup ke khadi thi Rang mahal ke das darwaaje
Na jaane kaun si khidki khuli thi
Kahat Kamaali Kabir ki beti
Aise biyahi se to kuwari bhali thi
Kamaali (c.15th Century)

My love is leaving, but I do not resist
In stillness, without my notice, she slipped away.
My royal palace has ten doors
Who knows who opened that window, from which she flew...
As its beloved departs, the mortal body grieves, Said Kamaali, daughter of Kabir.
Transl. Saili Oak & Akshaya Avril Tucker

II. Geliebte Sakhi: Beloved Friend (09:11-22:45)
An earlier version of this song, for mezzo-soprano and sinfonietta, was commissioned by Density512, on the subject of “re-composing” Alma Mahler songs. Thus, the German text and some aspects of its setting comes from Alma Mahler’s Fünf Lieder. In juxtaposing the Heine text with a slow khyal composition in Raag Bageshree, I am creating one human character that sings in two voices. This is a meditative love song, but the lover or friend could be human, divine, abstract — even music itself.

Lyrics:
Ich wandle unter Blumen
Und blühe selber mit,
Ich wandle wie im Traume
Und schwanke bei jedem Schritt. O halt mich fest, Geliebte!
Vor Liebestrunkenheit
Fall' ich dir sonst zu Füßen Und der Garten ist voller Leut!
Heinrich Heine (1797-1856)

I wander among the flowers, blooming, I wander as if in a dream,
swaying at every step.
Oh, hold me close to you!
Enraptured,
I fall at your feet
while the garden breathes the life of thousands!
Transl. Akshaya Avril Tucker

Eri sakhi tyaja maan
Dhara dhyaan, chhaand gumaan Tabhi pave gyaan
Pratamata dhara dhyaan, Sharana eka surajaan,
Pajhe saba miTat agyaan.
Dr. Ashwini Bhide Deshpande (b.1960)

My friend, let go of your arrogance Focus, be compassionate
Let your pride fall away
Surrender to each note
Then you will see that truth:
The artist is the divine servant of music
Transl. Saili Oak & Akshaya Avril Tucker

III. Tarana: Dance (22:45-29:45)
Tarana is based on abstract syllables (“de re na”, “ta na na”) and references two Tarana compositions by Dr. Ashwini Bhide Deshpande, in Raag Bhimpalas and Raag Desh. The soprano and Hindustani vocalist explore fast, frequently improvised runs, as well as lyrical lines, playing off one another.

Cover image, "Dancing on the Edge," courtesy of Kamini Avril, painter. (www.instagram.com/kaminiavril/)

Three Songs

Commissioned by and featuring Alissa Roca, soprano, and Jason Mulligan, piano (2019). Performed in Dallas, TX in June, 2019. 

Text by Akshaya Avril Tucker, inspired by a poem by Jason Mulligan (which was a response to Mozart/Goethe's light-hearted song, Das Veilchen, the Violet) and, in part, by the ancient Mesopotamian epic of Gilgamesh. 

"In the half-light, midnight waters
a violet glow

Oh, that I might taste that flower
luminous nectar, life-giving power
I have come so far

Soon, I will leave these shores
will sink to the sea floor
Pray for me, friend
that the sentient blossom
doesn't eat me first!
Voracious glare in its purple eyes
gaping petals unhinged at the stem
Growing wider and wider 
poised to attack! 

And I, poor traveller, a midnight snack!"

Midnight Snack

For String Trio (Violin, Viola, Cello). Composed in 2019.
Recorded at Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival (VT), by Daniel Chong, violin, Burchard Tang, viola, and Priscilla Lee, cello. 

The story goes that when Krishna, the legendary incarnation of Lord Vishnu, was a child, he once was caught eating sand. Concerned, his mother Yashoda scolded him and pried his mouth open. There, instead of dirt, she beheld the entire universe and beyond, with all its galaxies, with every element of the earth, the weather, the human mind and its senses, her own village and she herself.

This piece was inspired by that fascinating moment, told in the Bhagavata Purana. I imagined it through in different melodic placements of Raag Charukeshi -- a raag that holds longing, tension, transcendence -- with help from the wonderful variety of timbres and ranges that string instruments produce. My goal in retelling this story, sonically, involved the manipulation of sound "perspective," the extremes of near and far -- holding both illusion and imagination. I wanted to play that narrative game, Krishna's lila, showing how small our conflicts really are, in the grand scheme of the Universe: even smaller than sand.

Track image, "Singer"(2019, oil on canvas) courtesy of Kamini Avril, painter. www.instagram.com/kaminiavril/

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