The Anhad Naad Collective this evening comprises vocalist Divya Vyas, Jun Ishimuro on flute and Charles Thomas on bass, joined by guest singer Madhuranjan Mohaan.

$20-25 cover charge, sliding scale

Anhad Naad Collective performance at Bird & Beckett can be viewed live and also after the fact on our bookshop’s Facebook page or YouTube channel. Please donate $5 or more using the venmo or paypal information on the screen to help us pay the performers and help with the streaming expense.

Anhad Naad derives from the Sanskrit “Anahata Nad,” meaning “sound produced without touching two parts” and meaning at the same time “pure” or “clean, stainless”. The name of this chakra signifies the state of freshness that appears when we are able to become detached and to look at the different and apparently contradictory experiences of life with a state of openness (expansion).

Flute player Jun Ishimuro came up with the ensemble’s concept as “it is like a ‘seed’ of all music. It is ‘collective’ so it is open to include any musicians to form a music collective… (W)e are exploring the fusion of raag (raga) in Jazz and R&B. Indian classical musicians are trained ultimately to freely improvise utilizing raag which bridges the approaches of Indian and the modern Jazz musicians.

“In Indian music there is no conscious effort to create chords or harmony but complex harmony is created through the tension between the melody lines and the 1 5 1 drone notes in the back ground… it is closer to musical approaches of modal songs of jazz featured in Miles’ ‘So What’ or Coltrane’s ‘Impressions’ or ‘My Favorite Things.'”

Read more here on the influence of Indian classical music on jazz.

Here’s a discussion of raga from Wikipedia.