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Anoushka Shankar: Burn, Breathing under Water, and Easy from Breathing…

- - - - do this more adventurously :face_with_cowboy_hat: ("push in riskier ways for me") than earlier works
    - - Breathing under Water doesn't have lyrics, but it reflects its title by reusing material from "Sea Dreamer" to suggest the sea?
      - :question: evoke mood?
      - Burn
        
        about different aspects of being in love
        
        being 'lost'
        
        being 'at home'
        
        'Falling pieces of a broken moon burn the sun'
        
        Imagery connected w/ sun, moon & stars
      - Easy
        
        singer is now disillusioned w/ love now that she is no longer young
        
        'Feeling is easy'
        
        ambivalence towards love: she enjoyed her "real" love in the past but now she knows it's not true
  - - - stronger dance rhythm (influence of Western Pop) than earlier album: Rise.
  - - - percussionist (drum and bass)
      - songwriter and producer (ambient)
      - Indo-Western electronica
    - - Sting
      - Norah Jones (sings on & co-wrote 'Easy')
      - Ravi Shankar
      - Noa Lembersky (American vocalist) sings 'Burn'
  - - - Shankar plays sitar (taught by father)
      - sarangi (fretless bowed instrument) in 'Burn'
      - marinja (small cymbals) used in 'Burn' and 'Easy'
      - virtuosic ornamentation in sitar & and metrical freedom
    - - Bombay Cinematic Orchestra strings in 'Burn' & 'Breathing Under Water'
        
        arranged by Salim Merchant, Bollywood arranger
      - typically a combination of Western & Indian instruments accompanied by Western chordal harmony & a large string section
    - - Instruments
        
        electric guitar
        
        synthesiser
        
        drum kit & drum program
      - Aspects of form in 'Breathing under Water' & 'Easy'
      - harmonic structure (most clearly in 'Easy'
- - - - electric guitar
      - synthesiser
      - drum kit & drum program
      - WL: Release by ACSS - fusion of electronic dance music, African & Celtic - instruments refect this
    - - Sitar
      - saranji in 'Burn''
      - Manjira in 'Burn' and 'Easy'
      - tabla in 'Breathing Under Water'
    - - WL: Jai Ho by A R Rahman
  - - - sitar & strings start together
      - Ethereal Synth Pad plays pianissimo in verse 1
      - Fat Lead Synth launches first chorus
      - sarangi comes in at bridge
      - brass, harp & flute may be heard in final chorus
      - finishes w/ cello solo
    - - occasional vocal phrases
      - tabla, woodwind & horns are used within piece
      - chromatic cello solo at end
    - - electric guitar & piano prominent
      - WL: Mundian To Bach Ke by Panjabi MC - mandolin, drum machine, percussion, e. bass & voice = mainly Western, but in Bhangra style (folk from Punjab)
- - - - WL: Release by ACSS - mel dom hom
  - - - Intro 1: primarily homophonic although melodic interaction between string & sitar melody
      - polyphony between sitar and strings in verse 2
- - - - Alap-style intro with sustained strings & improv-style sitar making pulse unclear
        
        WL: Tukhe Dekha To by Jatin-Lalit - slow free tempo intro, like 'alap'
  - - - outlined by strings (mostly semibreves)
    - - single 2/4 bar at 37 as sitar re-enters, overlapping vocal phrase
      - three beat pick-up bar
    - - five-quaver 'pick-up' bar
      - bar 31 = 3/4 to press forward rather than repeat 4/4 rhythm of bar 29
  - - - triplets, syncopated rhythm & varied note values
      - improvisatory character, suggestive of 'alap'
    - - rapid, rhythimcally diverse w/ frequent sync. & triplets+quintuplets
    - - more rhythmically ornate than the other two
  - - - last part of second intro = percussion & synth bass inject movement into music w/ clear pulse
      - syncopation also in voice, sarangi & lead synth parts
- - - - repeated material :arrow_right: unity
      - varied :arrow_right: variety
  - - - 3 verses + middle 8 (B)
- - - - 'Easy' built almost entirely built on sus chords
      - 'Burn': used frequently e.g. first chord of intro 2
      - 'Breathing under Water': frequent sus chords e.g. bar 8 Absus4
    - - 'Burn': bar 3
      - 'Breathing Under Water': bar 25
      - 'Easy': bar 5
    - - 'Burn': second chord = C#m(add4)
      - 'Easy': second chord - Db(sus4)
      - 'Breathing Under Water': occasional added 6ths & 7ths
        
        WL: Release by ACSS - extended chords such as 7th & 9ths
- - - - reinforced as C# is almost always present, often in articulated bass
    - - final chord lacks a 3rd :arrow_right: tonal ambiguity
  - - - sections
        1, 3, 4
        
        tonality initially unclear
        
        Alternates Bbm/Ab chords:
        probably Db: vi and V
        
        Db maj suggested by disguised plagal cadence b.14-17
      - section 2
        
        suggests Lydian A major (A major with :hash:4th)
        
        (notes of E major but frequent A major chords; no E major chord)
        
        tertiary modulation :smiley:
  - - - Indian equivalent = Rag Khamaj: lighter but also painful mood. Reflect lyrics
- - - - Burn: small & low range (mostly between C#-A)
      - Easy: wider range of 9th
      - Breathing Under Water: varied backing vocals - use of microtonal intervals in glissandi
        
        oriental influence
    - - Burn: conjunct mmt. Leaps larger than a 3rd are unusual
        
        'hypnotic narrowness' in line w/ static harmony
      - 'Easy' larger intervals used, notably 8ve to highlight 'the other side'
      - 'Breathing Under Water': three varied different phrases
  - - - long & slow-moving
      - some doubling of melody
    - - chordal accompaniment
      - occasional melody e.g. bar 54
  - - - elaborate/ornamented
        
        WL: Mundian To Bach Ke - use of turns in vox melody
        
        WL: Tujhe Dekha To by Jatin-Lalit - use of melisma and Indian ornamentation
    - - 'Burn' more frequently high in tessitura
      - 'Breathing Under Water' - high tessitura to 'sing' above strings
    - - melody more continuous & less improvisatory
      - 'Burn' & 'Easy' sitar melodies short & fragmented by rests
        
        WL: Release by ACSS
    - - used in all 3 pieces
      - can't be notated
      - generally gliss. between notes a 2nd/3rd apart
        
        WL: use of glissando, ornamentation, double-stopping
      - WL: Mundian To Bach Ke - mandolin tuned a quarter tone flat