Konnakol Jazz Project
press release: Unprecedented, energizing and humanizing are all words to describe this positively unique experience. The Konnakol Jazz Project, founded by Arun Luthra, masterfully blends konnakol with Black American music with a wide range of classic and modern musical influences to create a vibrant new sound and style.
Luthra’s virtuosic craft of Konnakol, deriving from ancient hinduism, has inspired and dazzled audiences from all over the world including Japan, Europe, South America and Australia. The ensemble’s traditional instrumentation of saxophone (Luthra), piano (Art Hirahara), bass (Noriko Ueda), drums (Jonathan Barber), and Carnatic percussion (Rohan Krishnamurthy), augments the synthesis of musical cultures. Luthra is the Fall 2021 Interdisciplinary Artist-in-Residence presented by the UW–Madison Division of the Arts and hosted by the Mead Witter School of Music’s jazz studies department.
Tickets are available for the in-person performance at the Play Circle and live streaming. If you are attending in person, you will need to follow UW–Madison’s COVID-19 related guidelines. Concert presented by Wisconsin Union Theater.
The University of Wisconsin–Madison Division of the Arts (presenter) welcomes Arun Luthra as the fall 2021 interdisciplinary artist-in-residence.
For the semester, Luthra is teaching “The Universal Language of Rhythm: Explorations Through Konnakol and Black American Music,” a 3-credit course. This course is an introduction to konnakol – the Carnatic (South Indian classical music) art form of vocalizing rhythms, as well as an exploration of the blending of konnakol with other musical traditions – particularly Black American music, and a survey of the concept of rhythm as a universal phenomenon which defines our world. Students will present works that incorporate konnakol concepts into creative projects ranging from music to poetry, prose, dance, and beyond. Watch this short video for more information about the course and residency along with viewing the residency website at go.wisc.edu/luthra.
To supplement the course and residency, Luthra is hosting guest artists in the course virtually. They include B.C. Manjunath, Camille Thurman and Selvaganesh Vinayakram.