SPOTLIGHT
ONCE IN A NEW MOON
Arun Ramamurthy. Image credit: KEVIN ALLEN.
Arun Ramamurthy Trio released New Moon, their long-awaited second album, recently on Greenleaf Music.
The similarities between American Jazz and Indian Classical music can often be found within the spirit of the musicians themselves. The shared artistic pursuit of carefully crafting a fluent, spontaneous voice, and the deep reverence for artistes who came before are just two common threads between the kindred traditions.
The core of the Arun Ramamurthy Trio’s new album New Moon is the New Moon Suite – a four-part work that reflects on the inspiration of ancestors, family and tradition, and how we navigate the world as multicultural beings, composed thanks to a grant from CMA's New Jazz Works program. Amavasya, which means new moon in Sanskrit, is a time to acknowledge and remember and pay tribute to the ancestors. In creating the suite, violinist/composer Arun Ramamurthy thought first of one of the most influential people in his life; his maternal grandmother, Aaji.
Growing up as the first generation of his family to be born in the US, Ramamurthy did not get to see Aaji very much. A month at a time, every couple of years, when his parents took him and his brothers to visit India. But on a few occasions, Aaji was able to come to the US and spend several months with Arun and his family. Those were important times in the development of his musicianship.
Sameer Gupta, Arun Ramamurthy and Damon Banks. Image credit: ARIA ISADORA.
Grandmother Aaji was not a professional musician, but she played the violin and had a deep love for Carnatic music. Back in India she taught groups of children from the town, and when she came to the States she encouraged Ramamurthy’s playing and singing, telling his mother – a Carnatic vocalist herself – to get him started on vocal classes, and subsequently suggesting that he should study violin. Aaji is given due honour in the suite’s second movement, entitled simply Aaji.
Ramamurthy’s parents’ transformational journey from India to NYC is explored in the first movement of the suite, Bangalore to Brooklyn. His father left Bangalore and came to Brooklyn to work as a civil engineer at Falco Construction – where he's been working for over 50 years, laying a foundation for life in the US and making sure the family had a steady footing in this country.
Perhaps because of the theme of being on a journey, ART’s interplay and spontaneity as a group are on display in this track; a remarkably fitting first movement, drawing the listener into the New Moon Suite. The song begins with a collective alap – the improvised section of a raga, forming a prologue to the formal expression. Traditionally, a soloist is the only ensemble member to perform the alap; here, ART interacts as a trio, spontaneously and responsively to each other, while exploring the Saraswathi raga used in the tune.
After this introduction, bassist Damon Banks sets up the groove that then propels Ramamurthy into soaring heights of open improvisation, adroitly underpinned by longtime collaborator Sameer Gupta on drums. A brief korvai ends the song, with everyone playing an energetic unison line before segueing into Aaji.
New Moon blends Carnatic music and jazz in an exciting furthering of both.
New Moon is the second release from Arun Ramamurthy Trio, and it’s evident from listening to the album that the group is in a place of comfort with each other musically – the listener can sense the connection in the recording studio. There’s a sense of genuine spontaneity, an ensemble able to adjust at any moment, all aware, all ready. Carnatic music and jazz are kindred spirits in the philosophy of awareness amongst musicians, as well as in the love and reverence for the elders, those who shaped us and our music.
New Moon presents musical practitioners at the highest level of their art, seamlessly blending Carnatic music and jazz in an exciting furthering of both.