Autumn Journey: Choose Your Path

Commissioned by the Michigan Festival of Sacred Music for
the 2020 Connecting Chords Music Festival

Rohan Krishnamurthy - "Eastbound"

ARTIST NOTES:

"Eastbound is a soundtrack of travel and adventure. Inspired by my travels in southern India, I created the distinct soundscapes by performing on several Indian hand drums to evoke a feeling of constant forward movement. This feeling is in stark contrast to the stasis of time and place brought on by COVID.

The instruments I recorded are the mridangam (double-sided pitched drum), ghatam (clay drum), khanjira (small framedrum), morsing (Jaw harp), tabla (pair of drums), konnakol (vocal percussion), and jalra (finger cymbals). The percussion instruments are set against the tambura melodic drone.

With each drum solo, you can imagine passing natural and built landscapes-- forests, rivers, clouds, houses, roads, cars, and people. The final track is a layering of all the instruments, crescendoing as you approach your destination."

ABOUT THE ARTIST

A “musical ambassador” and “pride of India” (The Times of India), percussionist, educator, and Kalamazoo-native Rohan Krishnamurthy imagines new musical intersections to bridge diverse cultures and communities. His cross-genre artistry draws from a formal study of Indian classical Carnatic music, propagating the ancient tradition and expanding it across global genres.

www.rohanrhythm.com
rohanrhythm.bandcamp.com

ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION

A nonprofit arts organization supported by individual donations and numerous grants, the Michigan Festival of Sacred Music is committed to broadening the understanding of diverse cultures and our own community through sacred music.

The Connecting Chords Music Festival events center around the common convictions and threads that draw our community together – the importance of cultural traditions, human dignity, and the increased understanding of various faith traditions.

Learn more about the Michigan Festival of Sacred Music and the Connecting Chords Music Festival at www.mfsm.us.