Kashmir

Triple Canopy is pleased to present the American debut of “Kashmir,” a musical composition by the ensemble Dawn of Midi with a film by Prashant Bhargava. “Kashmir,” which was commissioned by Triple Canopy with the support of Chamber Music America, charts the relationships between trauma, memory, and technology through the prism of the conflict over the region of Kashmir. The concert will take place at Roulette in downtown Brooklyn on May 30, with performances at 8:00 and 9:30.

Dawn of Midi consists of Qasim Naqvi (percussion), Aakaash Israni (contrabass), and Amino Belyamani (piano), and melds free jazz, minimalism, and musique concrète. In four movements, through the modulation of a single melodic figure, “Kashmir” evokes the life cycle of a piece of information: inception, dissemination, reception, decay. This melodic figure—a bit of basic data modulated and warped by the accumulation of information—serves as the nucleus of “Kashmir.” As the film navigates the streets of Srinagar Kashmir and the proliferation of images of the conflict, the music shifts from distinct, mechanical patterns to billowing overtones anchored by propulsive rhythms, essaying to describe the course of history as experienced in the daily lives and memories of residents and their technological mediations.

“Kashmir” will be performed worldwide in 2012 and featured on Dawn of Midi’s second album, to be released by the venerable Thirsty Ear label later this year. Click here to view a trailer for “Kashmir,” here to download Dawn of Midi’s recent live EP, and here to listen to a recent set of recordings posted as a podcast by Triple Canopy.