Cal Performances presents Vijay Iyer & Friends: Confluence featuring Zakir Hussain, Rudresh Mahanthappa and Aruna Sairam
Zellerbach Hall Auditorium
U.C. Berkeley, Bancroft Way at Telegraph Ave, Berkeley, CA 94305 USA
2:00 PM, Saturday, June 17, 2017

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[2:07 PM lights down, applause at band entrance; Vijay speaks a bit]

1. [2:13 PM] Eeeeee
2. [2:23 PM] City of Sand
3. [2:37 PM] Rag ?Andolan
4. [2:56 PM] Snap
5. [3:07 PM] Abundance
6. [3:24 PM] Punjab
   [set ends 3:33 PM; bows, then all off for a few minutes; band back at 3:35 PM, tuning & noodling; Vijay introduces the final piece]
    
   Encore
7. [3:37 PM] Kalinga Nartana Tillana
   [show ends 3:45 PM]

• Zakir Hussain: tabla, percussion, vox;
• Vijay Iyer: piano;
• Rudresh Mahanthappa: alto saxophone;
• Aruna Sairam: vox.

An excellent show! Eeeeee set the standard: capturing my attention immediately, and transporting me to some far away plane of auditory existence. City of Sand was slow and exquisitely meditative: a nice contrast to the more frenetic opener. Aruna Sairam introduced the following tune, but I didn't quite catch the name, Rag ?Andolan is my best guess; I also wrote that it uses only five notes. Snap was another fast tune, quite fun to listen to. Abundance was probably the slowest piece of the set – and also my favorite.

In retrospect, I should have noted the composers for each piece, as Vijay identified them with each introduction; for the moment, I recall only that Eeeeee was written by Mahanthappa. Hmmn. Looks like I need to do additional research!

Anyways, I was very happy when the musicians walked back onstage for an encore, and if I understood Sairam correctly, the final composition, Kalinga Nartana Tillana, was written in the 18th Century to commemorate Lord Krishna's encounter with Kaliya, a five-headed river cobra, at Vrindavan. Wikipedia has a helpful page about the backstory, and Nikhil has posted a truly excellent blog article about the work.

Mark Macnamara posted a preview interview with Vijay at SFCV.

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2017 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2017 event list! ☸ On to the next event!