Roh. (2017)
for vocals, acoustic guitar, resonating sarod, and electronics
Roh. holistically treats Rohan Shirali, a folk-inspired singer-songwriter and a close friend, as the sole boundary for what I could do in the piece. I explored all the possibilities within Rohan’s multi-instrumental sonic palette, and synthesized them into an electro-acoustic composition based on my perspective of Rohan’s identity and lived experiences. Rohan was also the intended player for the recording and premiere of the piece, which forced me to remedy the inherent discomforts he felt while performing outside his stylistic habitus. I helped Rohan express extensions of techniques that he is familiar with within an unfamiliar, “experimental” compositional approach. Collaborating with Rohan in this way proved to be the most rewarding part of this music-making process for me.
Roh. was premiered during the 2018 Society of Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States (SEAMUS) National Conference