Vijay Iyer with Prasanna & Nitin Mitta | Tirtha (Coming March 8th, 2011)

 

vijay iyer – prasanna – nitin mitta // TIRTHA

The Sanskrit word t?rtha (THEER-tha) literally means a ford, or a
shallow place in a river that can be easily crossed over. Within a
spiritual context, tirtha denotes a holy place near a body of water
—somewhere where everyday struggles fall away, and where one passes
easily into a deeper and more profound state of being. Aptly, Tirtha
is now also the name of a phenomenal trio featuring three powerhouse
musicians who at once honor and traverse the streams of tradition. It is
also the name of their exciting new album on ACT Music.

Individually, Indian-American pianist-composer Vijay Iyer, Chennai (formerly Madras)-born guitarist-composer Prasanna, and Hyderabad native and tabla player Nitin Mitta
are already highly accomplished artists who shift easily among multiple
musical languages. Together, they have achieved a fully realized,
deeply thoughtful, and truly innovative collaboration. Combining the
elemental directness of rock, the chamber-like intimacy of raga, and
bebop’s hard, angular drive, Tirtha achieves a profound interplay of melody and rhythm that characterizes the best jazz.

In his album notes, the award-winning Iyer describes the group’s genesis:

“Tirtha (the band) formed in response to an invitation. In 2007 I was
asked to put together a concert celebrating 60 years of Indian
independence. Normally I’ve steered clear of fusion experiments that
attempt to mix styles – to “create something,” as John Coltrane famously
admonished, “more with labels, you see, than true evolution.” For this
event I hoped to avoid those pitfalls, and offer something personal.

“I invited along Prasanna and Nitin Mitta, two outstanding musicians
from India who have settled in the States. None of us had collaborated
previously, but at our first rehearsal we felt a jolt of recognition.
There was no question of “fusion,” no compromise, no attempt to sound
more or less “Indian”; just a fluid musical conversation among three
individuals, an atmosphere of camaraderie, a sense of beginning.”

Prasanna continues the thought from his unique vantage:

“ Tirtha
is a logical extension of what I have been doing for many years in my
own way – looking at global music today from the perspective of a
Carnatic [south Indian classical] musician and looking at the rich
tradition of Carnatic music from a contemporary Jazz/Rock/Classical
musician’s perspective. In a trio that fosters as much space as Tirtha
does, these concepts take on a musical life that is shared with a
unique synergy. Music eventually finds its own simple solution.”

These artists’ musical and cultural experiences are part of their
creative DNA. Immediately, for example, you hear the distinctly South
Indian, meticulous ornamentations of Prasanna’s guitar in dialogue with
Iyer’s gloriously spacious harmonic palette, and Mitta’s superbly crisp
Hindustani (north Indian classical) grooves and virtuosic, grounding
presence. You hear familiar structural elements of jazz, Hindustani, and
Carnatic music. However, the group completely shuns any musical clichés
or previously heard “fusions” of those genres.

Instead you hear a band with ideas: the Reich-like rhythmic shifts of the driving opener “ Duality”; the rhythmic vocalizing and drummed responses on “Tribal Wisdom”; “Abundance,” an Ellingtonian hymn with Carnatic nuances; the surprise post-punk anthem “Gauntlet”; the subtle majesty of the title track; the shimmering melodies of “Entropy and Time.”
The pieces (alternately composed by Iyer and Prasanna) methodically
open up to reveal the beating heart of the band’s improvisations:
dynamic, astonishingly alive, with a deep sense of purpose.

Tabla player Nitin Mitta describes what the band means to him:

“The Great Vocalist Ustad Amir Khan once said music is something which the Soul speaks and the Soul hears. Tirtha to me is this spiritual journey. Music is universal and Tirtha
is a true example of this; a combination of Jazz, Carnatic and
Hindustani, elements of each merging together to evolve into music with
no tags. I have never felt more challenged thus far in bringing out my
creativity as I do with Tirtha.”

Tirtha at
once acknowledges and celebrates its diverse heritages, and yet is not
restricted or easily reduced to any stereotypes about who these
musicians are—or who they “should” be. What the band offers instead is
an impassioned and beautiful act of self-definition.

Iyer summarizes:

“For us Tirtha
represents a unity that only recently became possible, after several
decades of South Asian global mobility, transition, and flow: it’s the
sound of a new reality.”