Celebrated, Grammy-nominated sitarist Gaurav Mazumdar, a student of Ravi Shankar, wrote Crossing Cultures: India and the West for Crossing Borders Music. He and CBM recorded his four-movement suite at the WFMT studios, and the recording was released on Ropeadope Records. The music continues the composer’s life-long work towards intercultural understanding and collaboration. in performing his new works for a small ensemble of Indian and European instruments that combine traditional elements and modern innovations.
The first movement, Overture: Crossing Cultures, depicts three stages of life as understood in the Hindu worldview: birth and creation; the hustle and bustle of adulthood, as one takes care of one’s affairs and worldly obligations; and old age and renunciation, where one renounces one’s worldly possessions and connections and seeks spiritual enlightenment. These stages of life can also be interpreted as stages of an intercultural exchange – the birth of the initial encounter, the work of seeking mutual understanding, and the enlightenment that comes after the successful accomplishment of that work. Joy depicts the joy of coming together. Meeting, on the other hand, acknowledges that, in coming together, tension can be created. The music, however, rather than depicting than tension, depicts an intense, meditative effort to remain calm, focused, and positive, even under the most stressful of conditions. Finale creates the exciting conclusion to the work, representing at the end of the generative process the thrill of the creation of something valuable.
