Kansas cellist and composer Susan Mayo will unveil a new symphonic work with three performances in the coming weeks.
Titled “Malaqatin Meetings,” the piece was written for the South Kansas Symphony Orchestra and the trio Multifarious, consisting of Mayo, violinist Tim Snider, and soprano saxophonist Courtney Long. John Harrison adds violin to the performances, while conductor Michael Christensen adds alto saxophone.
The piece is part of Yakja Hona, an ongoing cultural exchange project by Mayo intended to foster dialogue between Pakistan and Kansas.
The performances are 3 p.m. April 26, at Southwestern College’s Richardson Hall in Winfield; 7 p.m. April 27 at Peabody/Burns High School in Peabody; and at 7 p.m. May 19 at Cowley College’s Brown Center in Arkansas City.
Mayo, who is married to a Pakistan native, Nasir Islam, notes that the work indicates “the sweetness, struggle, and resilience of that relationship.”
She adds that maintaining musical integrity has been central to her work, noting that past collaborations with Pakistani musicians has involved the use of ragas (a melodic framework for improvisation used extensively in South Asian classical music).
“South Asian classical music is improvisatory,” she says, “Western classical music is written out.”
The new compositions were inspired in part by visual stimuli, including witnessing an exhibit featuring elements of embroidery from Pakistan. “I saw that and thought that it reminded me of music,” Mayo says. “It has texture, rhythm, color. [I thought], ‘Wouldn’t it be interesting to base on musical pieces on artwork from Pakistan?’”
The three movements of “Malaqatin Meetings” then became a way for her to further explore the idea. The first movement, “Thatta,” draws inspiration from the Shah Jahan Mosque in Thatta, Pakistan. Constructed in the 17th Century, the mosque houses what is widely considered the most elaborate tile work in South Asia.
“Lahore” draws inspiration from carpet of a similar vintage created in the city of the same name, while Chaukhandi commemorates the beauty of the Chaukhandi Tombs, a graveyard some 30 kilometers from the Pakistani city of Karachi, and employs rhythmic structures used by tabla players.
She continues, “I thought that it would be fun to at least have the visuals up on a screen so that people could see [them] and I thought it would be even more fun to have the motifs that the structure’s based on illuminated as the piece goes along.”
To execute the idea, she turned to the tech-minded violinist John Harrison.
Harrison notes that he was immediately interested in the challenge. “Any time Susan talks to me about a project I want to know more. I’m looking for ways that technology can be more expressive, more artistic. This seemed like a wonderful opportunity to explore all of those things,” he says.
Though he was presented with some expected and unexpected challenges, he says the learning process was more than rewarding.
“It’s fairly literal in that we show the different parts of the artwork and how they inspire different parts of the music,” he says. “It serves two purposes: One is that the audience sees a little more of how the music works and that helps them a little more for the understanding. The other is an emotional experience. These are really beautiful pieces that on their own create a sense of wonder and awe.”
