In 2010, I was blessed to collaborate with some amazing artists on a ~20 minute performance work entitled I Still Live Here:

I Still Live Here is the premier work of Chicago-based African diasporic performance project, The Artisans of Alchemy (AOA). AOA's founder and director, Ni'Ja Whitson choreographs this eclectic and gripping interdisciplinary performance work, that locates and expresses body memory; a gesture boldly traversing the collection of scars and narratives stored between skin.

Supported by original compositions from sound artist nikhil trivedi, site specific performance for video composed by Whitson, and presented through expressive and dynamically moving bodes, the multimedia landscape of I Still Live Here questions our complicity and personal relationship to violence, connects the horrific reality of “corrective rapes” occurring in staggering numbers in South Africa, to shared histories of, struggles to overcome, and experiences within, collective trauma. 

I Still Leave Here Sampler

In fall of 2005 I played sitar for a play called “The Masrayana,” a story about Gopal Masra, a farmer in Rajastan who’s brother pays off the village-clerk to issue a death certificate in Gopal’s name so that he may inherit the family farm. Gopal’s brother kicks him out of his own house, and he’s left for dead. The story describes his plight, and how he fights back. I was awarded a Jeff Citation Award for Best Original Incidental Music for my composition and performance in this show.

“Completing the environment is composer Nikhil Trivedi’s work on the sitar, which blends with recorded music to create an atmosphere of wonder.” Windy City Times, September 28, 2005

“Nikhil Trivedi’s atmospheric sitar music, from a platform above the audience, adds polish.”, Chicago Sun-times, September 17, 2005

“As the drama of Gopal’s quest unfolds, The Masrayana is beautifully accented by Nikhil Trivedi’s sitar music. Trivedi accompanies the play from a picture-perfect perch above the stage.”, The Indian Reporter, October 2005

Masrayana Sampler

In 1996, I recorded an album with my sister and a friend. We had written a collection of songs we wanted to get onto tape, and a neighbor I grew up with had a recording studio in his basement. We sounded like 1986, we all had long hair, and we were amazing.

Fire with Fire
Chutes and Ladders
Angie
Prelude to Cory
Cory
Queen of Spades

Lina Trivedi - vocals
nikhil trivedi - guitar, bass guitar, background vocals
Jim Schneider - drums, percussion

Engineered by Ken Erickson at H.E.R.O Recording, Addison, IL
Fire with Fire guitars written by Mark Zimmerman
Angie produced by JJ Erickson

nikhiltri

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