Art In All Its Forms

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)

Suraj speaks with Rebecca Lemon, a Professor of English at the University of Southern California. Prof. Lemon talks about the works of Shakespeare and their place in the English canon, how to interpret/study Shakespeare in the modern era, and the connection between iambic pentameter and regular spoken English. She also discusses the vital role of the humanities and how she finds inspiration to write her own books.

I took Prof. Lemon’s ENGL 230, “Shakespeare and His Times,” when I was a student at USC. I greatly appreciated the way she contextualized Shakespeare through the lens of race and gender. Our class often had tough and nuanced conversations, and the result of those conversations, at least for me, was true inspiration for my own artistic works.

I’m so glad to have Professor Rebecca Lemon on Art In All Its Forms!

CORRECTION: March 26th, 2021

An earlier version of this post misstated Rebecca Lemon’s title. She is a Professor of English, not an “Associate Professor.” I regret the error.

Show Notes and Links:

* Rebecca Lemon’s website

* Prof. Lemon’s book “Addiction and Devotion in Early Modern England”

* Prof. Lemon’s book “King Richard III: Language and Writing”

* Prof. Lemon’s book “Treason by Words”

* Duke Ellington’s Such Sweet Thunder

* Richard III’s opening monologue

* The scene between Desdemona and Emilia in “Othello”

* “Is Othello a Racist Play?” from the Royal Shakespeare Company

* Finding the body of Richard III in a Leicester car park

* RaceB4Race at ASU

Suraj talks with Joey Messina-Doerning, a Grammy-nominated music producer and engineer. Joey explains the difference between being a producer, an engineer, a mixing engineer, and a mastering engineer on a given project. He also talks about his work on HAIM’s “Women in Music Pt. III,” which was nominated this year at the Grammys for “Album of the Year.” Suraj asks Joey about the paradoxes of producing music and what it’s like to make music in the time of social media.

Show Notes and Links:

* HAIM’s “Women in Music, Part III”

* Maisyn’s “Cool Grl”

* Joey’s Instagram

* A USC Thornton School of Music article on Joey and other USC Grammy nominees

* Rostam Batmanglij’s website

Suraj speaks with Sari Arambulo, an actress, producer, and digital creative. Sari talks about growing up in LA, acting on the hit show “A.P. Bio” (NBC/Peacock), and producing new independent films. Suraj and Sari also have a conversation about diversity in Hollywood and how it has progressed over the years.

Show Notes:

* Sari’s Instagram

* A.P. Bio: The Podcast

* Sari’s IMDb (to find all of Sari’s other work)

NOTE: This conversation was recorded back in September of 2020.

Suraj speaks with Peter Erskine about his distinguished career as a jazz musician. Peter talks about his early music education, as well as his work with the Stan Kenton Orchestra, Weather Report, and numerous other groups. He also talks with Suraj about his philosophy of drumming and how the drum set connects with other artistic interests of his. Finally, Peter recommends a book he has co-written with Dave Black, "The Musician's Lifeline." (Alfred Music)

Show Notes: 

1. Peter's website

2. Peter's book (co-written with Dave Black) entitled "The Musician's Lifeline" 

3. Peter's record, "3 Nights in L.A."

Suraj speaks with Kyle Allen about his artistic work. Kyle talks about his background in ballet, how he got to Los Angeles, his TV and film work, and more. Kyle's new film The Map of Tiny Perfect Things comes out on February 12th!

Show Notes: 

1. Kyle's Instagram

2. Kyle's IMDB

3. Kyle's upcoming film "The Map of Tiny Perfect Things"

Suraj talks with Chris Callister about his work as a film editor. They discuss Chris's unique family, how Chris thinks about his role as a film editor, how Chris got to Los Angeles, the projects he has worked on, and more. 

NOTE: This was recorded in late 2020, before the major events of the past two weeks. 

Show Notes: 

1. Chris's Website

2. Seeing Allred (film on Netflix)

3. Who Will Write Our History (film to rent on Amazon)

Suraj talks with Chris Callister about his work editing documentary films. They discuss Chris' unique artistic family, how to start a career behind the scenes, the art of editing films, the philosophy of documentaries, and more!

Show Notes: 

1. Chris' Website

2. Seeing Allred, a film Chris edited, available on Netflix 

3. Who Will Write Our History, a Holocaust film Chris edited, available on multiple streaming platforms

4. More info on cinema verite (from a more knowledgeable source than myself :))

Suraj talks with Maura Tuffy about her work as a singer and choral conductor. They talk about how Maura got her start in music, what led her to USC and then to Yale, how choral music can impact audiences in the modern world, and more!

Show notes:

1. Maura's Website

2. Maura's Artist Facebook (to find CollaborArtists)

3. Considering Matthew Shepard by Craig Hella Johnson, Conspirare

4. LA Times piece on Jenny Wong

Suraj speaks with drummer Luke Woodle about Luke's band, Cab Ellis. They talk about their music education at USC, what it's like to start a band from the ground up, how to make music that is both authentic and accessible, and more!

Show Notes:

1. Vic Firth's History of the Drumset: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qM869WYpp-0

2. Cab Ellis' Record, entitled "Nighttime OCD": https://cabellisband.bandcamp.com/album/nighttime-ocd

3. Cab Ellis on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cabellisband/?hl=en

4. Luke on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/luke_woodle/