David Harrington is the founder and artistic director of the Grammy-winning Kronos Quartet. For 40 years, the Kronos Quartet and its non-profit Kronos Performing Arts Association have re-imagined and redefined the string quartet experience through thousands of concerts, more than 50 recordings and 800 commissioned works, and education programs for emerging musicians.
Terry Riley — the legendary composer and minimalist pioneer — is celebrating his 90th birthday today. In honor of the milestone, Red Hot + Kronos Quartet are sharing Riley’s performance of the raga “Komal Reshab Asavari.” The track is the b-side of an upcoming release by Kronos, which features other acclaimed artists speaking out to prevent nuclear war. (The release will be out July 16 to coincide with a performance by Kronos at the University of Chicago for the Nobel Prize Committee and the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ Laureates Assembly for the Prevention of Nuclear War.)
Terry recently spoke to Kronos leader David Harrington about “Asavari”; you can hear the track and read their conversation below.
— Annie Fell, Editor-in-chief, Talkhouse Music
David Harrington: When I heard the raga, “Komal Rishabh Asavari” — first of all, it’s unbelievably beautiful.
Terry Riley: Thank you.
David: Really amazing. And to hear you singing that with Pandit Pran Nath’s tamboura — that must be the most resonant tamboura I’ve ever heard in my life.
Terry: Yeah, it’s a beautiful instrument alright. And Sara [Miyamoto] does such a beautiful job tuning and playing it.
David: Oh, is that Sara playing it?
Terry: Yeah. She has taken to the tamboura in such a beautiful way. So she always tunes for me and plays beautifully.
David: Wow. I mean, that’s like La Monte Young intonation there.
Terry: Yeah. Some people have an affinity with the tamboura. I didn’t, unfortunately, have that. [Laughs.] I never could make it sound that good. But I taught her what I got from Pandit Pran Nath about how to tune tamboura, and she got it.
David: Well, that’s really exciting. I noticed that right away. And then some of the notes that you’re hitting in that raga — my god.
Terry: That’s a good observation, because “Asavari” is one of the deepest ragas of India. Often when a person has loss in life, the “Asavari” represents that. It represents that there’s nothing to hold on to in this life. So it’s always slow, and has lots of beautiful microtonal movements that set it apart from almost every raga.
David: Well, I don’t know if I explained to you everything about what we’re trying to do here: July 16 marks the 80th year since the first detonation of a nuclear device, and we’re playing a concert marking that date in Chicago. A number of nuclear scientists and the Doomsday Clock people are having a convention, and they are bringing several — I don’t know if you know that in 2024, survivors of the nuclear blast [Nihon Hidankyō, or The Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations] won the Nobel Peace Prize. Several of these survivors are going to come to Chicago.
Terry: Well, they must all be as old as I am. I was 10 years old in 1945.
David: The guy that gave the Nobel speech was 11, I think, at that time.
Terry: So there’s still quite a few survivors, huh?
David: Yes, yes.
Terry: Isn’t it amazing, to have survived that and lived into old age?
David: Yeah, it’s incredible. So we’re trying to make a concert.
Terry: Wonderful.
David: But here’s what came up yesterday — and tell me if I’m totally nuts — what would you think if, as part of this release, your singing of that raga comes out as a single on your 90th birthday?
Terry: Wow. That would be a great honor.
David: The solo one with tamboura — I was hearing these pitches that I just couldn’t even believe that you found.
Terry: Well, I didn’t find them — Pandit Pran Nath, I had many lessons on this with him, and accompanied him when he was singing it. So it wasn’t anything to do with me except that it manifested through me, because I got the transmission from him. I was trying to do what he did, trying to manifest how he sounded.
David: I mean, look: I’m a few years behind you, but I’m increasingly reaching seniorhood, let’s say.
Terry: The venerable David Harrington.
David: [Laughs.] But the thing is, to hear you going for that, I just think it’s so beautiful and so inspiring, and I want the world to hear this.
Terry: I think you’re right. And I think it’s something that people rarely hear, the rendition of a raga in this way without any vocal gymnastics, just the pitches. And Guruji always used to say, “‘Asavari’ is about the pitches.” He said that the image of “Asavari” is “nothing will remain.” Everything’s gone. Anything you wanted to cling to in this life is gone. So you’re just with spirit, essentially.
David: How is [“Asavari”] used in the culture that Pandit Pran Nath grew up in, and how did he use it when he sang and when you studied with him?
Terry: In the tradition of raga, each raga has a rasa, or a feeling that paints a certain kind of picture. And the “Asavari,” he’s always spoken about it in the way I just described: Nothing will remain. One time he told me it’s like a yogi meditating in the graveyard on a corpse. So it’s very deep, very solemn. But also for me, the raga has a hopeful sound. It’s like, OK, this world is not that perfect, but there is a world that we’re trying to describe here in the music that goes beyond the perfection of what exists in the world. So I think that’s the main feature of that. Every raga, some more than others, has a certain kind of effect. Guruji used to describe it as, you put your hand in warm water, you feel warmth. A raga should be like that. As soon as the music starts, you should have a sensation of what that raga is.
David: Boy, I got that more than any raga I’ve ever heard in my life. It took me right into something I couldn’t even describe.
Terry: Well, it’s definitely in a league by itself. And Guruji said that nobody ever understands this raga until they reach 50 years old. But he sang it when he was young.
David: Well, I mean, he was always old, wasn’t he? [Laughs.]
Terry: [Laughs.] He was timeless. But I’m really thrilled that you’re going to use it, because when I heard it back, I really couldn’t believe it was me singing. I just got into a mood. It wasn’t planned. I opened my mouth and that’s what came out, that raga. It wanted to be. I felt like I wasn’t really selecting it. It just kind of manifested in the mood of the evening when we recorded it. For me, it’s always the best when I’m not thinking about it too much. It’s just going with what you feel is happening at the time. I was warming up my voice and “Asavari” started.
David: Wow. That’s unbelievable, and perfect.
Terry: I’ve never shared a recording with the public that I’ve done like this. And my voice, since I’ve been in Japan, it’s been changing and I think actually getting better, richer. I still practice a lot, and I’m teaching, so that helps my practice, too. I don’t think I could have done this even two years ago. Something happened. Something’s been changing in my voice and also my feeling. I feel like it’s really merging with the teaching I got from Guruji all those years. I feel like he’s singing through me somehow.
(Photo Credit: Lenny Gonzalez) 
