Aakash Mittal - Nocturne (2021) [Hi-Res]

To the Listener,

One night at the peak of Kolkata's Durga Pooja festival I boarded a bus heading down Rash Behari Avenue. The city's population of fourteen million had seemingly increased overnight with the addition of millions more tourists and visitors. As travelers continued to climb on to the bus I became more and more compressed by the mass of bodies around me until the overwhelming volume of people in the gangway lifted me off of the floor. With one hand holding onto the bus railing, I became suspended by my fellow humans as we traversed a sonic landscape of traffic noise and pooja drumming. The human density, music and noise of my night time adventures in Kolkata greatly influenced the album you now hold in your hand.

This project began with the idea of creating a series of nocturnes based on the Hindustani evening and night ragas I was studying with Prattyush Banerjee. With a fellowship from the American Institute of Indian Studies, I was able to live in Kolkata for the majority of 2013 to 2015 and deepen my experience beyond music classes. Over time, these compositions evolved to include more and more of Kolkata's noisescape as well as the spirit of communal and ritual sound-making in the city. This expanded my conception of what a nocturne can be. I found myself wanting to further explore the liminal space between music and noise. This recording's sound-collages and group improvisations are a step toward that ambition.

Most of my projects are created with specific musicians in mind and this one is no different. This music is as much about my friendship with Rajna Swaminathan and Miles Okazaki as it is about two-note dyad progressions and short-long rhythms. Rajna's extensive musical vocabulary drawn from her experience playing in numerous artistic communities is central to this work. From my initial imagining of this project to creating the framework of each composition, Rajna's creativity and breadth of sound was on my mind. I love the way Miles’ intuition and musicianship grounds our collective interpretations of each piece and contributes a sense of liberation through structure on this album. His ability to invent new material, challenge the ensemble to take greater risks and laugh off our failures in a recording session is a gift. Together, Miles and Rajna cultivate a unified voice within the music, amplifying the compositions with their ability to create rhythmic architecture, melodic shapes, and timbral shading.

Finally, this project was created with a great love for the people, music and sounds of Kolkata. I am forever grateful for the generosity and vibrant energy of the City of Joy.

Aakash Mittal

Acknowledgments
Thank you Rajna and Miles for your friendship and the creative spirit you brought to this project. I wrote this music, in part, as an excuse for us to hangout more often and it worked! Much love to you both.

Meera Dugal, thank you for being an avid listener, a sounding board, a voice of reason, a liner notes editor and a dear friend throughout this project. Sarabeth Brockley, thank you for coming to every show and for patiently and persistently encouraging me to make this album. Seth Gerard, thank you for sharing your skills on the layout and design of this project. Meera Mittal, thank you for creating such a beautiful work of art for the album cover.

To my family, Mom, Dad, Meera, Grandma, Grandpa, Gaurav, Jyotsna, Uncle John, Aunt Kelly, Neena Bua, Raja Uncle and my family of choice (you know who you are) I love you.

Pranam Prattyush Banerjee, Tanmoy Bose and Samarth Nagarkar. Thank you for your teachings, guidance and patience throughout my studies of raga music.

Matt Fuller, Nishad Panday, Rez Abbasi, Alex Levine, Travis Reuter, Alex Ritz, Zack O’Farrill, Dan Weiss and Shorab Goho, thank you for playing and contributing to these compositions over the years. The gigs we played together are in the marrow of these tunes.

This project was created with support from 204 people through Indiegogo, The American Institute of Indian Studies Senior Performing Arts Fellowship, and generous donations from the following contributors: Karen and Surendar Gupta, Sathi and Ann Bunyan, Iva Jo Stowell, John Charles Kerkering, Anjal Chande, Sameer Mirza, John McKinney, Kelly McClary, and Teresa Louis.

To my wife Jayanthi, thank you for helping me through the ups and downs of every project. I love you.

In loving memory of Sathi Bunyan. Your love and compassion continue to be a guiding light.