Berklee College of Music

Berklee Indian Ensemble ft. Armeen Musa - Jaago Piya

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• published: 13 Apr 2016
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We are delighted to release "Jaago Piya" on the auspicious occasion of Bangla Noboborsha, the first day of the Bengali Calendar year 1423. Shubhô Nôbobôrsho from all of us at Berklee College of Music! The first in a series of original compositions from the Berklee Indian Ensemble, "Jaago Piya" was written by Armeen Musa, the first Bangladeshi student to join the Berklee Indian Ensemble. Her mother, Dr. Nashid Kamal wrote the Bengali lyrics which can be found here: http://bit.ly/1OX8AFv Over the years, every time the Indian Ensemble performed this piece, the arrangement evolved, with new ideas contributed by different members, until we finally recorded it with students from 17 countries. To us, "Jaago Piya" is a gentle, loving reminder to stay present, in the moment, to always be hopeful, and live a life filled with gratitude. According to Armeen, "What inspires me is music. The ability of music to connect to our silent thoughts, be a gift of solidarity, in happiness and sadness, inspires and motivates me, to be a part of motions bigger than myself." What inspires you? A little cultural background: Jaago Piya is a collaboration of soundscapes; the melody has a semi classical flavour (classical referring to the classical music of the Indian subcontinent,) with vocal harmony that is rarely used in such a tune. The song being in Bangla, inspired the ensemble to use Bengali colours and clothes for the visual to showcase a bit of Bengali culture. The primary theme was using the gamcha (local checked cloth used as a towel) as clothing, scarves, hairpieces inspired by Bangladeshi fashion designer Bibi Russel, who brought the gamcha to the international fashion industry. Bengali New Year is a grandly celebrated day of the year in both Bangladesh and West Bengal, a truly colorful occasion, with parades, daylong musical concerts and festivals held in every corner of the country and in homes. The video hopes to capture that beautiful spirit with its own diversity and colours. ---- Founded in 2011 by faculty member, Annette Philip, the Berklee Indian Ensemble is one of largest and most diverse ensembles at Berklee. The ensemble performs a wide array of South Asian music, with the ultimate goal of presenting concerts that consist entirely of original student compositions. Armeen Musa: http://armeenmusa.com/ http://www.facebook.com/armeenm/ http://twitter.com/ArmeenMusa Indian Ensemble: http://www.facebook.com/BerkleeIndia http://www.twitter.com/BerkleeIndiaX http://www.berklee.edu/india Berklee: Subscribe: http://bit.ly/1MjVyEN Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/berkleecollege Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/berkleecollege Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/berkleecollege Site: https://www.berklee.edu Composer: Armeen Musa Lyrics: Dr. Nashid Kamal Vocal arranger, Producer, Director of Berklee Indian Ensemble: Annette Philip Arrangement: Berklee Indian Ensemble Soloist: Armeen Musa, Dhaka, Bangladesh Choir: Trinayan Baruah, New Delhi, India Sanjeeta Bhattacharya, New Delhi, India Ava Dudani, Brighton, MA Dhruv Goel, Lucknow, India Vasundhara Gupta, Kolkata, India Harshitha Krishnan, Chennai, India Katyayani Krishnan, Singapore Malwina Masternak, Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, Poland Sanjana Raja, Chennai, India Thara Dhishay Ramamurthy, Manama, Bahrain Lydia Renold, Schönenwerd, Switzerland Purvaa Sampath, Bangalore, India Ashwin Shenoy, Manama, Bahrain Lyusi Simon, Moscow, Russia Pankhuri Singhal, Westford, MA Ishita Sinha, Patna, India Swarathmika Swaminathan, Mumbai, India Sanchitha Wickremesooriya, Colombo, Sri Lanka Gretchen Schaderbodt, Valdivia, Chile Kanika Patawari, Antwerp, Belgium MT Aditya Srinivasan: Chennai, India Rishabh Dev Sharma: New Delhi, India Rhythm Section Srishti Biyani: Bansuri/Voice, New Delhi, India Sashank Navaladi: Sarod, New Delhi, India Layth Sidiq: Violin, Amman, Jordan Aleif Hamdan: Guitar, Jakarta, Indonesia Anton A. Sten: Guitar, Stockholm, Sweden Johnathan Lee: Guitar, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Annette Philip: Piano/Voice, Kerala, India Achal Murthy: Electric Bass, Strassen, Luxembourg Kaushlesh Purohit: Tabla/Percussion, Jodhpur, India Yogev Gabay: Drum set, Be'er Sheva, Israel Recorded live at Q Division, Somerville Recording engineer: Matt Larson Assistant engineer: Jake Furgason Mixing Engineer: Simon Katz Video by 4Reel Productions Producer, editor: Teo Karakolev Videographer: Kevin Greene Production assistants: Dina Benech, Eric Notar Mastered by M Works Studios Engineer: Jonathan Wyner Head Card Designer: Lydia Renold Typography Achal Murthy, Armeen Musa, Annette Philip, Purvaa Sampath, Harshitha Krishnan, Swarathmika Swaminathan, Vasundhara Gupta, Ava Dudani, Kanika Patawari, Katyayani Krishnan, Lyusi Simon, Pankhuri Singhal, Thara Dhishay Ramamurthy, Yogev Gabay Special thanks to: Sadia Rahman for the gamchas Mohitosh Talukder Taposh for all your gifts Bibi Russel for inspiring our outfits.