Artifact: River Journeys Music

By Jon Petter and Jeyachandran, 1994

This is a simple rhythmic composition written in western musical notation, inspired by Akademi’s River Journeys educational project. This sheet music is inspired by written literature on rivers, including the mythological stories of Ganga, ecological reports and the science of river flows.

Context

River Journeys was an educational pack produced by Akademi in 1994. It draws comparisons between The Ganges and the Thames. These rhythmic compositions are unique in their rendering of classical indian ‘bols’ into western notation and can provide access to indian rhythmic syllables for those who have no familiarity with indian musical systems.

The project was Akademi’s second theme-based education resource for schools and colleges, following the production of Chipko in 1993. These early educational initiatives signalled a change in Akademi’s approach, with a greater focus on education, that extended widely to running classes and developing a national syllabus for kathak and bharatanatyam. Akademi’s educational work is now a fundamental part of its mission and vision.

Find out more about the project