MUMBAI: Composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist Karsh Kale has been commissioned to compose the finale piece for the prestigious Bang On A Can Festival 2011 which takes place in February every year at the Lincoln Center in New York City. The People’s Commissioning Fund of Bang On A Can was created to provide gifted experimental composers, such as Karsh Kale, with a unique opportunity to write for a world-renowned ensemble. This year, along with Karsh Kale, acclaimed rock band The National’s Bryce Dressner and renowned composer Nick Brooke also composed pieces. In the past years, other composers and musicians that have collaborated with Bang On A Can include the greats – Brian Eno, Phillip Glass and Thurston Moore.
Kale’s piece entitled ‘Crawl, Walk, Run, Fly’ was premiered by the Bang On A Can All-Star orchestra on the 10th of February 2011 and won Kale tremendous acclaim. For Karsh Kale, this was a huge honour as it was also the first time that he has composed a piece for an ensemble other than his own. Kale, well known as a multi-instrumentalist is adept on the tabla, drums, guitars, piano and keyboard, electric bass and also as a vocalist, which aids Karsh Kale a great deal as a composer. After the world premiere, Kale’s â€?Crawl, Walk, Run, Fly’ will now go on to be performed across the world by the Bang On A Can All-Star orchestra.
The festival received rave reviews and the New York Times said, Merkin Hall was a mob scene…At five minutes to 8, the line of ticket buyers snaked out the door…It was an evening that was packed in every sense: with people, with ideas, with music….
About Bang On A Can
Formed in 1987 by composers Michael Gordon, David Lang and Julia Wolfe, Bang on a Can is dedicated to commissioning, performing, creating, presenting and recording contemporary music. With an ear for the new, the unknown and the unconventional, Bang on a Can strives to expose exciting and innovative music as broadly and accessibly as possible to new audiences worldwide. Over the years, Bang on a Can has grown from a one-day festival to a multi-faceted organization. Projects include festival concerts and the annual Bang On A Can Marathon; The People’s Commissioning Fund; the Bang On A Can All-Stars, who tour to major festivals and concert venues around the world every year; recording projects; the Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival & Institute.
What’s going on with Karsh Kale
Karsh Kale has recently finished his fifth studio album Cinema, which will be released across the world in early 2011. He’s recently completed a very successful pre-release tour in the US selling out venues like the Highline Ballroom in New York and Royce Hall at UCLA in Los Angeles. For the album, he’s put together an all new ensemble called Cinema Live featuring Tony Grey (legendary bassist), Chris Buono (guitar), Jamshied Shariffi (keyboards) and with guest Dorian Cheah (electric violin).
Karsh Kale was a featured artist and curator at Chivas Studio Presentations in December 2010 in Mumbai and Delhi alongside Bharat Sikka, Manish Arora, Shekhar Kapur, Karan Johar and Manish Malhotra. Karsh Kale and the Midival Punditz started their own music production house MPKK in 2010, composing and scoring music for films and other projects, with the Bollywood blockbuster Karthik Calling Karthik being their first project. With MPKK, Karsh Kale is currently working on their second Bollywood film as well as collaborating with Shekhar Kapur on a project, both due out in 2011.
About Karsh Kale
One of electronic music’s leading fusion artists, Karsh Kale — composer, producer, tabla player, multi-instrumentalist and overall showman—has made his mark on global music with genre-bending fusions of electronic, Indian classical music, rock, jazz and hip-hop. Renowned for his collaborations, Kale’s work with a wide spectrum of artists including Zakir Hussain, Ravi Shankar, Sting, and Herbie Hancock is a testament to his versatility and unique musical talent.
A predominately self-taught musician, Kale grew up steeped in classical music and film music from India and has harnessed his own ingenuity and experimental nature to develop his signature Electric Tabla… style. Kale has also been active in the world of film scoring for both crossover and Bollywood films with his production team MPKK with the Midival Punditz.
He is also known for his production and remixing skills for the dance floor and beyond, including mixes for artists such as Paula Cole, DJ Spooky, The Cure, Midival Punditz, Yoko Ono, and Anne Rani. His music has also been used in popular films and television series and most recently in HBO’s True Blood. Kale has recently completed his 5th solo album titled CINEMA which is due out for release early 2011.