Good morning.
Today we’re listening to Ariel Kalma, a French composer and multi-instrumentalist. Born in Paris, he started playing woodwinds at a young age, and after college played sax and flute in a band that toured across Europe.1 He began experimenting with recordings of instruments he encountered on his travels, eventually finding his way to India where he studied local classical music traditions.2 In the original music he began composing in the ‘70s, which has been labeled New Age, Kalma combines his lifelong interest in woodwinds’ contoured voice with the droning notes and repeated refrains from raga. In 2014, the label RVNG Intl. released a compilation of recordings made between 1972 and 1979, which demonstrate this style beautifully. We’re also playing Kalma’s brand new record, The Closest Thing to Silence, a collaboration with composer Jeremiah Chiu and violinist Marta Sofia Honer.
An Evolutionary Music - Ariel Kalma (90m, light/spoken vocals on about a third of tracks starting with track 6)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Bandcamp / Tidal
The Closest Thing to Silence - Ariel Kalma, Jeremiah Chiu & Marta Sofia Honer (50m, spoken vocals on track 2)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Bandcamp / Tidal
We wish you a great start to your week.
I would not have pegged this as 'New Age' - time may change meaning of category? Warm tones, motion, interesting textures - reminds me of 'minimalist' composers or jazz of the '60s. I am enjoying these pieces, and the variety they offer, very much