We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

/

about

Varsha
(notes by the composer)

Varsha means ‘rain’ in Hindi. It was initially written as an interlude between Sonata V (Sitio – “I Thirst”) and Sonata VI (Consummatum Est – “It is finished”) of Haydn’s Seven Last Words. The combination of Hindustani raags used in this piece are from the Malhaar family, which are meant to beckon rain.

I imagined an interlude between these two sonatas: Christ thirsts. Rain comes from the distance (Megh Malhaar). There is a downpour around him (Miyan ki Malhaar), but he grows slowly weaker. His next words make clear that even the rain is not enough: his thirst is of another sort, which cannot be quenched by water. And so, it is finished.

Varsha is a portrait of a person taking their last earthly breaths. But it is also about the washing away of pain and grief, in the hope of uncovering what lies beneath.

credits

from Breathe: Music of Reena Esmail, released April 30, 2021
Recorded in December 2020 at All Saints Church, Pasadena.

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Vijay Gupta image

Vijay Gupta Los Angeles, California

Vijay Gupta is a violinist, speaker and citizen-artist dedicated to creating spaces of wholeness through music. He is the founder of Street Symphony, a community of musicians dedicated to engaging people in reentry and recovery living in LA's Skid Row. Vijay Gupta is a 2018 MacArthur Fellow. ... more

contact / help

Contact Vijay Gupta

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this track or account

Vijay Gupta recommends:

If you like Varsha, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Featuring Riley Pinkerton (aka The Rat Queen) from the theatrical NYC rockers, Castle Rat.
listen now