Harmony in Music Collab 11/19 at Kirkwood Performing Arts Center

ST. LOUIS - Oct. 13, 2022 - PRLog -- Harmony in music strives to focus on distinct styles of music around the globe. Carnatic and Hindustani music are the most scientific, emotional, and mathematical expressions from the Indian subcontinent. Jazz and Classical music have established their roots in American Music. This concert will bring together the best of both worlds.

Seema Kasthuri has been a practitioner of Carnatic music for decades under the tutelage of some experienced teachers under the Gurukula system (Gurukula meaning Teacher's house). The nuances of the music system are best learned by ear and from the vast experiences of the teacher and then by singing at numerous concerts. Seema will be presenting her new songs, such as "Asatoma," "My mother," and "Breakable Boundaries."

Carnatic music provides 72 distinct scales of melody called "Melakartha," which forms a strict baseline for the performer. However, there is ample scope for improvisations in the melodic and rhythmic expressions. The 72 major scales give way to millions of sub-pentatonic, Penta-hex sub-scales that further dive into a new space or zone of their own. This music explores massive rhythmic patterns based on patterns of 8, 16, 7, 5, and 6 beats per cycle in its simplest form.

Todd Mosby is an Indian Jazz guitarist and a recipient of ZMR awards who records and tours nationally. Todd will be exploring Jazz with North Indian Hindustani music, which he studied for over a decade under legendary Imrath Khan.

Todd and Seema are coming together a second time to showcase what traditional music can offer when challenged with a Jazz twist. The creative team of musicians, including rhythm expert Prasanna Kasthuri, Violin artist Balaji Sivasubramain, Drummer Steve Davis, and Bassist Ben Coen, feed off of each other's experience and learning to come up with a challenging yet entertaining repertoire of classical, Jazz, and popular tunes

Audiences can expect to see some rare tunes with major and minor scale ragas. Artists will go off into their world of imagination while trying to improvise based on traditional Indian scales such as Yaman, Revathi, and Kadana Kuthoohala (a twisted scale stemming from major but throwing some mysterious but mood-uplifting tones ). A rhythmic cross elaboration of drums, mrudangam (Indian drums), and hand-held drums will give the thrill of beats. Also, expect to hear many vocalizations and calculated Swara patterns(notes).  The concert will have Beatle's fun, Nora Jones's smooth songs, Road to Tiparalli – a colonial piece, and folk melodies from the 50's. Also, some Bollywood catchy tunes for the audience to sway and move.

The concert is on November 19^th, 2022 – at 7:00 PM at Kirkwood Performing Center's Strauss's black box theater.  Tickets available at Metrotix. More details are available at https://www.sooryaperformingarts.org.