East is East is a transcultural collaboration that draws on both ancient and contemporary inspiration from the East and the West. With guest artists Amir Amiri (santur), Vidita Kanniks (vocals), Thibault Bertin-Maghit (double bass), Hamin Honari (tombak & daf), Hank Knox (harpsichord), and Shawn Mativetsky (tabla).
Originally for solo organ titled “Blocks on Blocks”, “For Humming Pedestrian” is an improvisation for organ + live electronics, percussion and voice. This work touches on a shared experience from the last year: passing through empty spaces, performing in vacant concert halls, mourning our losses, and hoping to find some reprieve in deserted streets, humming along to music in places once filled with life.
Joel Peters, Organ
Vidita Kanniks, Humming
Parker Bert, Foley Artist
Sukhi Kanniks, Design
Available to listen on all streaming platforms
Śāradā is a collection of Indian art music conceptualized and arranged as a tribute to the Shringeri Vidya Bharati Foundation by award-winning composer and scholar, Dr. Kanniks Kannikeswaran, vocally interpreted by Vidita Kanniks.
The album features several kritis from the classical Carnatic repertory by Mutthusvami Dikshitar (1775 - 1835) in addition to original music by Dr. Kannikeswaran set to text by 8th century saint-philosopher Adi Sankara and other contemporary spiritual leaders including Bharati Tirtha Swami (1951 -) and Chandrasekara Bharati (1892 - 1954). The chosen texts and compositions are all in dedication to goddess, Sarasvati in the form of 'Śāradā', as she is seen at the Sringeri Saradamba temple in Karnataka.
The music was commissioned originally in 2015 and was recorded and engineered by Sai Shravanam at Resound India, Chennai featuring artists T. Bhavani Prasad on Veena and S. Ganapathi on Percussion. The album has now been re-released for digital streaming on all mainstream platforms.
© 2015 K. Kannikeswaran
Vismaya is a contemporary compilation of the Indo-colonial airs written by South Indian composer Mutthusvami Dikshitar in the 19th century as a response to western tunes heard during the British occupation of India. Dikshitar wrote syntactically perfect, profound sacred texts in Sanskrit to fit 39 of these recognizable tunes (God save the queen, Rakes of Mallow, etc.) of which several are now sung commonly in the Carnatic pedagogical tradition and are known as the 'nottusvara sahityas'.
This album serves as the first-ever compilation of all known 39 tunes, rendered with western folk instrumentation in an unprecedented manner.
© 2008 K. Kannikeswaran
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