Note:
A note to listeners: Charukeshi Bandish is simply me singing the source melody for Black Iris.
It isn’t actually a piece I wrote — it is simply a reference track.
Charukeshi is a raag in Hindustani music, and the word ‘bandish’ means ‘fixed composition’ upon which an improvisation (and in this case, the following orchestral piece) is built. The closest analogy in American music is in jazz: it would be like singing the ‘tune’ simply, before playing a full band arrangement of it.
Recording
Chicago Sinfionetta
Mei-Ann Chen, Conductor