UCLA Music Alumnus David Balakrishnan '76 nominated for Grammy Award
David Balakrishnan '76, B.A., Music, has been nominated for a Grammy Award in composition for album Confetti Man. With his band, the Turtle Island Quartet, Balakrishnan "blends elements of Indian classical music, jazz, western classical and bluegrass on European string instruments in an attempt to redefine art music."
"The mention of Guruvayur, the 5,000-year-old temple town in Kerala is enough to remind one of the famous Guruvayur temple with its principle deity — a four-armed Krishna, standing and carrying a conch and the sudarshan chakra. So when that temple name becomes a moniker for the second movement of a Grammy-nominated album, one that melds Indian classical music with jazz and western classical music, it’s intriguing to say the least.
Sitar player Anoushka Shankar, jazz musician Rudresh Mahanthappa and an Indian album of bhajans created in Vrindavan aren’t the only names on this year’s Grammy shortlist. There is another Indian who will compete for the golden gramophone at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles on February 15 this year. San Francisco-based violinist David Balakrishnan, whose roots are in Kerala’s Palakkad, will be vying for a top spot in the Instrumental Composition category with his album Confetti Man.
“I imagined that a bluegrass fiddler would enter the temple and create a raga groove in a bhajan style. It’s a joyous experiment to say a story,” says Balakrishnan, 61, who is nominated alongside Indian origin saxophonist Mahanthappa in the same category along with American saxophonist Bob Mintzer, composer Rich DeRosa and trombone virtuoso Marsshall Gilkes."— Suanshu Khurana, January 5, 2016
Read the full article at The Indian Express's website.