Suraj speaks with Amirtha Kidambi about her work as a singer, musician, bandleader, and composer in the creative music/avant-garde scene in NYC. Amirtha talks about how her upbringing as a first-generation Indian-American affects her artistic process, how she (and other musicians) arrived at the term “creative music” to describe the music she sings/plays, and how colonization has had an adverse impact on fully experiencing music. Also, FYI, Amirtha is Suraj’s second cousin! For subscribers on podcast apps, see additional show notes and links on the AIAIF website! Link below.
Because this week’s episode is a little more “in the weeds” on topics like modern jazz and experimental film, I’ve made a more extensive list of show notes. Amirtha was talking about so much great artistic material — a lot of artists and works that I didn’t know — and I just HAD to include it all in the episode!
Show Notes and Links:
* Amirtha Kidambi’s website — Lots of great videos and links to her work here, HIGHLY RECOMMEND
* Amirtha’s albums with her band, Elder Ones — “Holy Science” (2019) and “From Untruth” (2018)
* Amirtha Kidambi & Lea Bertucci’s “End of Softness” (2020)
* Mary Halverson’s “Code Girl” (2018) — Amirtha is a member of this band!
* Understanding the concept of Indian “Raag”
* NY Times obituary of Kadri Gopalnath, Indian alto-saxophonist — There’s a wonderful video of Mr. Gopalnath’s music that is a great introduction to the music Amirtha discusses in the episode
* Ornette Coleman’s “Free Jazz” (1961)
* John Coltrane’s “Impulse! Records” Discography — Every one of the albums is worth listening to, with “A Love Supreme” (1964) and “Duke Ellington and John Coltrane” (1962) being two great starting points, in my opinion.
* Pitchfork review of Albert Ayler’s “Spiritual Unity” (1964)
* Lydia Goehr’s “The Imaginary Museum of Musical Works” (1992)
* NY Times obituary of Fred Ho, Asian-American composer and musician — Another obit that I think is a good jumping-off point for discovering of Mr. Ho’s music.
* George E. Lewis's book “The AACM and American Experimental Music” (2008)
* A NY Times article on the AACM at its 50-year anniversary in 2015
* A guide to the discography of Anthony Braxton, alto-saxophonist and composer
* A NY Times article on Vijay Iyer and a link to his NEW album “Uneasy” (2021) — Few jazz musicians today excite me as much as Vijay Iyer. Amirtha and I discuss the paradoxes of the word “accessible” when referring to music in the episode, but if you want to hear Iyer sticking to a more recognizable harmonic palate, check out his album “Accelerando” (2012). He does a version of Michael Jackson’s “Human Nature” that is groovy beyond belief.
* Alice Coltrane’s recording of the “Sai Bhajan,” “Prema Mudhita” and her albums “A Monastic Trio” (1968) and “Journey in Satchidananda” (1971)
* Website of Ravi Coltrane, Alice and John’s son, a current jazz saxophonist
* Suneil Sanzgiri’s website — filmmaker that Amirtha collaborated with on two film scores
* Indian film director Satyajit Ray’s “Apu Trilogy” in the Criterion Collection, Roger Ebert’s review of the trilogy, and an interview with Ray
* An article from Vox on Iranian film director Abbas Kiarostami and a link to “Taste of Cherry” (1997) in the Criterion Collection
* An article on Charlie Chaplin filming “Modern Times” (1936)
* Robert Bresson’s “Pickpocket” (1959)
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