Violin, keyboard, all instruments: Ainkaran Sivaaji
Performed, composed, produced, mixed and mastered: Ainkaran Sivaaji
A new day, a new piece.
“From Stillness“, a reflection upon departure, renewal and harmony, comes after a few weeks I’ve had absorbing the different patterns of life off the stage, outside the studio. Experiences that we share, such as the sacrifices and loss due to Covid, have naturally brought us closer to our loved ones. I’ve never been happier with what I do have and it would be dishonest of me to say that the year so far has been a hugely revelatory time. However, in these times of confusion, suffering and desperation, I’ve tried to use the privilege I have to: continue finding more inner focus through new appreciation of these patterns, further my personal development, help where I can and organise some plans – for myself, all you rasikas out there and others I care about – in the now and ahead.
Writing, like performing, cooking, analysis, project management, yoga or even a hike in the outdoors, has always helped me discern the value of both recurring and unexpected circumstances, and how best to reconcile them all through good discipline, health and growth.
In that spirit, it just so happened that this piece flowered from Semmalai Pann / Mixolydian mode, also known as Harikambhoji rāgam. As with all Melakartha rāgams, the swaras of Harikambhoji give room for new discovery through manodharmam, and always leave me in a better, more relaxed mood. After creating the piano foundation early in the process, more melodies came naturally and the later textures were easier to append. Here I achieved Harikambhoji by applying Graha bhedam (shifting of the tonic note) to Shankarabharanam rāgam. And so here we are! Whether you’re a sweet pea spectator, a chocolate craver like your cosmos 👀, or an over-eager Ceylon date palm (the real ones know 😉), wherever you are in the world, I hope there’s something in it for you too!
What layers can you hear? I didn’t want one instrument to overwhelm the piece, and taking that to heart, I evened out the audio production with soft strings, crafted in pizzicato, orchestral chord arrangements and rāgam lifts on my Carnatic violin, while including gayageum and harp flicks, some sparse MIDI drum pad beats, and other DAW patches into the mix. Teamwork people! 🙂 Again, this was recorded with a simple audio setup at my home studio on my iPhone and MacBook via a new mic pickup. There are chirps from more of our free feathered friends in the garden.
Thanks for waiting with me. The turning points of this process were reached quickly and also over longer periods; that’s just how my creativity came with this. It’s a familiar dance and I’m grateful for the trust that I and you all have in its transparency. Simply put, there was a lot of listening over it again and again, stretching some parts out, getting just the right amount of spice in. In those temporal moments, I’m grateful for the reminder that we are all entitled to our own private spaces, but can share what’s borne of them at the right time, and in venturing out again, I can work to the mutual health and benefit of all that are willing and who share common goals with me.
This project’s trajectory and everything that’s been happening has also got me appreciating those liberties that we have always embraced, but where such embraces have not been respected. The consequences for this have been real and revelatory. As our definition of “own” constantly changes and expands, as our voices are increasingly heard, we often find oppressive players and systems evade accountability further, victimise to more acute degrees and can be normalised to increasing levels, so how they are dismantled requires new approaches, strategies and skills.
What’s clear is that it’s never good enough to cocoon into such “normal” until some other makes it convenient for people to either change and be better, or parrot without doing the work. I know that most of us have tried to use available opportunities, small and large, to protect our Koshas and our diverse environments better, whether in “isolation” or “front-lining”, through sharing stories, petition, donations and other aid, sanction, voting, lobbying and protest, and for others, that can begin with listening, recognising, interrogating and learning from patterns within and around you.
I always hope that you find Gurus like mine, who’ve consistently shown how true self-love has never been typified by individualism, and by extension, shown how true connectivity has never resulted from prominence or from spread alone. Smashing those latter sermons, those false economies, in pursuit of healthier minds and hearts can mean a more attuned interior and etheric circuitry, where frontlines can then be redrawn to everything’s advantage. More compassionate and honest art can advance common ground, overcome antagonism and enable our better actors to win common battles.
The best among us hope we can continue to lead, represent, protect and spread a culture fostered in respect, dignity and accountability towards biodiversity in our natural ecosystems, where rehabilitation is not assured without the interior hard work, efficiency, trust, empathy, honesty, self-love and humility that’s necessary to sustain it. When successful, this may help all recognise and fix collapsing systems on all frontlines together, uphold and represent what’s been newly made, and build on that too. We’re worth it.
This time has been described as a portal to new beginnings and introspection.
A better “normal”.
In union.
From stillness. How does it make you feel? X
🐦🦎🦜🦢🦔🍃🦚🌺🌞🌕🌙🌱🧘🏽♂️🎹🪕🎻
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NB 1: If you can, please support the following, who are helping families affected by the pandemic in South Asia, some of which I have been proud to support for a few years:
https://give2asia.org/covid-19-pandemic-response-sri-lanka/
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www.ainkaran.com/contact/
