Tendrils Of Light - Shruthi Rajasekar

A new string quartet movement which I composed in 2013-14 especially for The Cavaleri Quartet during their residency at the University of Oxford. This residency was generously supported by the Radcliffe Trust. The recording was by Sennheiser and the performance took place at the Holywell Music Room in Oxford on the 5th March 2014.

Violin I: Martin Jackson
Violin II: Ciaran McCabe
Viola: Ann Beilby
Violoncello: Rowena Calvert

ESCHATON - String Quartet No. 1 - The Cavaleri Quartet @ University of Oxford

This is an extract of my ten-minute work 'remiscipate', written as part of the RSNO's Composers Hub 2015-16, performed here by Royal College of Music players during the 2016 Composers Orchestral Workshop.

The title ‘remiscipate’ is an amalgamation of two words: ‘reminisce’ and ‘dissipate’. I needed the title to reflect several different things, as the piece is has two main personalities - representing both a literal moving dust cloud, and an ephemeral cloud of memories. It was inspired by footage I saw in October of the Red Road Flats’ destruction in Glasgow. Every video I found of the demolitions captivated me - there was the impressive sonic effect of the explosion (followed by the buildings’ collapse), the visual impact of the outburst and rapid fall of such an enormous mass of material, but also the atmosphere you could sense amongst the crowds that had gathered to watch. There was excitement, trepidation, and shock, but I’m sure that for many there was also sadness and loss - especially those who once made a home in one of the blocks, who watched and remembered a multitude of moments. Every person who saw these events will have seen it from a different angle, and will remember different things more clearly than others, and if all those perspectives could be gathered I think they would look like that dust cloud.

‘remiscipate’ is a musical expression of the enormous swirling dust clouds that engulfed the entire estate after each demolition - material swirls, drifts, bursts suddenly and fades gradually to nothing - but also explores the nature of memory, how strong memories and ghosts in our past can suddenly rise up again, nebulous and indistinct or very clear.

remiscipate (extract)

Sangeetham (Music) by Shruthi Rajasekar

When I look around myself for an idea, when I feel as though I have nothing to work with, when I feel as though I am nothing, when I've been made to feel that I am nothing, I look to the strong women that surround me for inspiration. Women's stories are tales of strength, perseverance, fire, and drive. And as the tides of history churn, gaining momentum, it's no longer dangerous to declare that now it's our turn--the women's turn.

The text for this piece is: "Hush now, baby. Don't say a word. Now it's time for the women's turn."

Don't say a word (2017) // Eighth Blackbird & Annika Socolofsky

Shruthi Rajasekar Sonetto 17

etymology - Friday, May 11, 2018

world premiere
text by Alyssa Ketterer Marshall

Etymology (Contemporary Undercurrent of Song Project)

the forgotten monologue - Shruthi Rajasekar

Maithree - the Music of Friendship

Ted's Dream

Psappha Ensemble - http://psappha.com - Dov Goldberg (Clarinet in G)

Ost, written for the Greek Klarino (Clarinet in G) and Indian drone, explores questions of “otherness” in our understanding of “Eastern”. In various European languages, “ost” is the root of “Eastern”, and as the traditional epicenter of the West, Europe has historically been contrasted with “the East”. For me, a hard dichotomy between the two is complicated by my background in both Western classical and Carnatic (South Indian classical) music and my identity as an Indian-American. In Ost, I use both of my traditions, within the context of idiomatic Greek ornamentation, to blur the distinctions drawn between other and self. 

Learn more about Shruthi: https://www.shruthirajasekar.com/

Psappha’s ‘Composing for…’ programme is supported by: Arts Council England; Garfield Weston Foundation; Idlewild Trust; PRS Foundation Talent Development Partner scheme; Radcliffe Trust; and RVW Trust.

Shruthi Rajasekar (born 1996) - Ost

Text:
politicians have prohibited women from making decisions.
Here is what transpired: she was reading a letter.
she was warned.
Here is what transpired: she was reciting the words of a great woman.
she was warned to sit down and be silent.

but nevertheless, she
Here is what transpired. She appeared to violate the rule. 
but nevertheless, she continues.
--
All text taken from the U.S. Congressional Record of February 7, 2017, in which Senate Republicans notably interrupted and silenced Senator Warren's speech. 

Commissioned and performed by M. Jennifer Lester and The Seraphim Singers. Recorded live in Cambridge, MA, USA: March 2020. 
--
Program Note:
During the 2017 U.S. Senate hearings of the nomination of Republican Senator Jeff Sessions to the position of U.S. Attorney General by President Trump, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts provided testimony assessing his fitness for the position by quoting an earlier letter to the Senate from civil rights leader Coretta Scott King. But her speech was interrupted by Republican senators who deemed that she had violated a Senate rule in which Senators cannot impugn their colleagues. Tensions between the political parties were already high at this Senate session, which occurred a few weeks after the inauguration of President Trump, and other Democratic senators vehemently opposed this decision, but the ruling remained. For the rest of the hearing, Senator Warren was not permitted to speak.

In his now-infamous words about this prohibition, Republican Majority Leader Senator Mitch McConnell noted that Senator Warren had been given a warning but had “nevertheless persisted" in speaking. Perhaps to his chagrin, these words were subversively transformed into a feminist slogan. "Nevertheless, she persisted" has become a broader statement about womxn continuing despite adversity. 

To understand the roots of this movement, I studied the transcript record of the original incident. In returning to this moment, I was struck by how the various accounts of what occurred were viewed by everyone involved as definitive truths. "Here is what transpired," Senator McConnell intoned, as if his words were indisputable. But what happened on February 7, 2017? Was it the silencing of womxn? Was it a rule needlessly or even recklessly broken? Was it chaos? Was it order? Did it mean nothing? Did it mean... everything? These conflicting truths are all too familiar to us. Yet in spite of our present vitriolic stasis, in which many clamor to be heard but not much is said, I hold this fragile hope: that she, nevertheless, continues.

Nevertheless

https://www.innova.mu/albums/nirmala-rajasekar/raga

Nirmala Rajasekar: Manasa Sancharare (Raga Sama, Aadi Tala)

Indian-American composer & vocalist. Please visit my website (www.shruthirajasekar.com) and contact me at shruthirmusic@gmail.com

Nevertheless

Shruthi Rajasekar

Related tracks