Album Notes

A South Indian classical musician undergoes a gradual metamorphosis from living half his life in the western world. He develops new instruments to accommodate his evolving drumming techniques and in the process has developed a personal vocabulary. He has undergone a transformation and is part of an old tradition with a new voice ! This is the story of Before and After, Here and There. Inventing the future, the same old future: the New meets the Old and the Old sees itself in the New.

Two hybrid instruments are used in this CD and are sometimes played simultaneously. The first one is a Metallophone that was built in 1995 out of aluminum plates and is tuned to the Indian Shruti system (22 shruti octave). It is played with mallets and sticks. The second instrument is called a Shruti Stick and has a small solid body with a large fretless neck to accomodate 12 strings (medium to bass gauge). Different types of tunings are achieved by mobile bridges on the fretboard as well as certain types of preparations on the strings. There are two custom made pick-ups : one near the bridge and the other near the nut. The instrument is mounted on a horizontal stand and is primarily played with thin sticks, South Indian finger drumming techniques, a bow and other things.