Meri Sakhi Ki Avaaz - II. Meri Sakhi ki Avaaz / Sweet is the Voice

(Starts at 11:15)

Program Note: "Meri Sakhi Ki Avaaz, at its core, is a piece about sisterhood. Each movement epitomizes one of the many facets of having and being a sister. It is also about what sisterhood looks like when expanded beyond a single family or a single culture— when two women, from two different musical cultures create space for one another’s voices to be heard.

For the second movement, I wrote a classical Hindustani bandish or ‘fixed composition’ in what they call 'ati-vilambit'— a tempo that is so slow that the western metronome doesn’t even have a setting for it. While Hindustani musicians would normally stay in one key for an entire piece (and, to be honest, for their entire professional career), this movement modulates once every avartan, or rhythmic cycle, and also allows space for improvisation within a very rigid western orchestral structure." - Reena Esmail

Ensemble: Western Classical Soprano, Hindustani Vocalist, and Orchestra

Contour, Ornamentation, Text Painting: Both vocalists open and close the movement by singing ornamentations around the pitch A (excerpted below). Ornamentations (or Embellishments) are a prominent feature of Hindustani classical singing. Esmail has titled this movement “Sweet is the Voice,” and showcased the voice by devoting much of the movement to ornamentation–a great example of text painting. 

Ornamentation - Note: a content creator who goes by @musicriyaaz does a wonderful job visualizing the ornamentations found in Hindustani music, often translating their traditional labels into english.

Interval: While both singers embellish around the pitch A, there are obvious unisons, minor seconds, major seconds, and ultimately a major 3rd to conclude the movement. There are also microtonal intervals present as Hindustani classical music does not fit neatly within the confines of 12-tone equal temperament!

Text: 
Meri sakhi ki avaaz (my sister’s voice)
Sweet is the voice of my sister

ranj mein
in the season of sorrow

umeed ka ehsaas 
([gives] a feeling of hope)

Other Movements:
-Movement I. Dō Kaliyaan / Two Flowers
-Movement III. Mirror | Opposite / Aks aur Saaya