ABOUT THE ARTIST:
David Abraham is a teaching artist and performing percussionist in the Cincinnati, OH region. A native Portlander, David is a founding member of All of the Above ensemble who made their international debut at the Cortona Sessions (2017), and appeared at Carnegie Hall in 2017 and 2018. They are currently the ensemble-in-residence at Xavier University.
David completed his DMA (2017) from CCM and has been a fellow at the Bang on a Can Music Festival (‘13), SICPP (‘15), and Chosen Vale (’12).
Om Srivastava is Adjunct Instructor of Saxophone at the Cincinnati Conservatory.
His indo-fusion debut Antara released in 2017 (Teal Creek). Om was recipient of fellowships at IndianRaga (‘15) and the Cortona New Music Sessions (‘17). He has performed with Fareed Haque at the Lincoln Center, the RagaTone Ensemble at Joe’s Pub, and with tablist Jim Feist at the 2018 NASA Biennial.
Om’s latest release for saxophone and tabla is 7th Life (‘19). He completed his DMA and ethnomusicology cognate at CCM.
ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE PIECE: Rasa: A Modern Sonic Tribute to Forgotten Humanist Bollywood
A premiere of a work inspired by the striking concentration of socially aware arthouse films in India between 1955-59:
Written for percussion and saxophone, the musical elements of this work would be interwoven with content from selected films which share underlying ambitious explorations of social themes pertaining to Humanism and Universality against extreme situations of poverty and moral challenge.
With said topics still being relevant in the modern world, we believe there is an imperative to reexamine the thematic motifs of these forgotten works.
The aforementioned juxtaposition of multi-media content consists of a projected collage of aural and visual elements. The directors of these films produced their work in an unprecedented style of East-West amalgamation, a style we will realize in parallel by composing a contemporary-fusion work.
The music for this piece would be composed and arranged in collaboration by percussionist David Abraham and saxophonist Om Srivastava.