#4500, Women's Voices From the South Asian Diaspora
There’s an hour of music featuring women’s voices from the South Asian Diaspora, including work by Brooklyn-based Indian singer Priya Darshini, Pakistani-American singer and composer Arooj Aftab, and Kirtan singer and philanthropist Manika Kaur, who have roots in North and South India, the Punjab, and Pakistan, but who might live in the US, the UK, Norway, or Australia.
Mumbai-born, Brooklyn-based singer, composer, and ultra-marathoner Priya Darshini, has roots in Indian Classical music and has been involved in Bollywood film soundtracks. On her debut record, Periphery, she takes a cross-cultural approach to song with rich and varied musical accompaniment by hammered dulcimer artist Max ZT (also her husband), ace percussionist Chuck Palmer, drummer Will Calhoun and cellist Dave Eggar.
There’s also music by New York-based Pakistani-American singer/composer Arooj Aftab who weaves her mellifluous vocal lines of texts from Urdu and Farsi poetry together with Western instrumentation in a chamber-jazz way on her most recent album, Vulture Prince. Then, listen to sacred chants from Australian-born, London-based, Manika Kaur, a Kirtan singer and philanthropist. Kirtan singing is a hypnotic form of devotional music usually involving call and response, typically performed at Sikh Gurdwara temples.
Hear Indian-born, American-based singer Ganavya Doraiswamy and her version of Gershwin’s “Summertime,” along with a psychedelic cover of “Dum Maro Dum” from New York-based band Bombay Rickey, led by singer and composer Kamala Sankaram. Plus, listen to a fusion of jazz and Indian ghazal (love songs and spiritual songs) by Anglo-Indian singer Najma Aktar, or just Najma, and music sung in Norwegian by Deepika (who appeared on the ECM release Ragas and Sagas), of Pakistani parents, but was raised in Norway.
Program #4500, Women's Voices From the South Asian Diaspora (First Aired 5/24/2021)
ARTIST: Esperanza Spalding, ft. Ganavya
WORK: formwela 2 [1:00]
RECORDING: Songwrights Apothecary Lab
SOURCE: http://songwrightsapothecarylab.com
INFO: Available at Spotify, YouTube, AppleMusic
ARTIST: Priya Darshini
WORK: Jahaan [7:30]
RECORDING: Periphery
SOURCE: Chesky Records
INFO: priyadarshini.com
ARTIST: Arooj Aftab
WORK: Mohabbat [7:42]
RECORDING: Vulture Prince
SOURCE: New Amsterdam Records
INFO: aroojaftab.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: Bombay Rickey
WORK: Dum Maro Dum [3:57]
RECORDING: Cinefonia
SOURCE: Cowboys & Indian
INFO: bombayrickey.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: Najma (Aktar)
WORK: Apne Hathon [5:25]
RECORDING: Qareeb
SOURCE: Shanachie #64009
INFO: Available at Amazon.com
ARTIST: Manika Kaur
WORK: Deh Shiva [5:06]
RECORDING: EK
SOURCE: Six Degrees Records
INFO: sixdegreesrecords.com/manika-kaur-ek
ARTIST: Deepika (Thathaal)
WORK: Et navn i munnen [4:35]
RECORDING: I alt slags lys
SOURCE: Kirkelig Kulturverksted #118
INFO: kkv.no
ARTIST: Ganavya Doraiswamy
WORK: Nithakam (Summertime) [5:22]
RECORDING: Women's Raga Massive Compilation v1
SOURCE: brooklynragamassive.org
INFO: brooklynragamassive.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: Susheela Raman
WORK: Nagumomo [4:46]
RECORDING: Salt Rain
SOURCE: EMI / Narada
INFO: Available at AppleMusic, Spotify, YouTube Music
ARTIST: Priya Darshini
WORK: Des [1:26]
RECORDING: Periphery
SOURCE: Chesky Records
INFO: priyadarshini.com
