REINVENTIONS
RHAPSODIES FOR PIANO
Composed and Performed by TANYA EKANAYAKA
“My music is my diary, through which I share and re-live specific moments of my life. The works featured in this, my debut album, evolved spontaneously in Edinburgh between 2010 and 2014 while I was at the piano. While deeply autobiographical, each work also presents a blend of two musical domains. These domains have fascinated me for many years although their combined presence in my works is something I only became aware of recently. Specifically, I perceive connectivity between other works of a concert programme deriving from their respective tonal centres, while the indigenous musics of my homeland Sri Lanka are integral to my being. As such, each work in this album may also be seen as re-presenting my indigenous culture while seeking to highlight connectivity between the different works of a concert programme in which the work might be incorporated.” – Tanya Ekanayaka
Listen to an extract from Adahas: Of Wings Of Roots
GP693
About this Recording
Tanya Ekanayaka is one of Sri Lanka’s foremost pianists and an internationally acclaimed composer. Her ‘deeply autobiographical’ piano compositions, or reinventions, introduce a novel and hybrid musical genre that takes a wide variety of Sri Lankan melodies – ancient, folk and popular – and blends them with motifs inspired by the tonal centres of established classical compositions by Bach, Beethoven, Ravel and others.
1 ADAHAS: OF WINGS OF ROOTS (04:18)
2 DEW ENCOUNTERS: OF SCOTTISH WALKS,
VANNAM (UDARA) & SRI LANKA’S BUGS BUNNY (04:29)
3 DHAIVAYA: ALTER(ING) HUE (10:25)
4 VANNAM (GAJAGA, MAYURA & HANUMA) & YOU (09:52)
5 IN LOTUS: OLU PIPILA WITH MOMENT (06:01)
6 LABYRINTH; VANNAM LENT (05:52)
7 2013/14 JUNE ECHOES (15:18)
TOTAL TIME: 56:16
TANYA EKANAYAKA
Tanya Ekanayaka is one of Sri Lanka’s foremost and acclaimed pianist-composers. Classically trained and with a background in Asian and Popular music, she is also a musicologist and linguist. She began studying the piano at the age of five, her mother, Indira Ekanayaka, instructing her through methods she describes as ‘experimental’ and ‘unintrusive’. She then went on to study under Bridget Halpé and subsequently benefitted from guidance by Colin Kingsley, John Kitchen, Raymond Monelle, Peter Nelson, Nigel Osborne, Jonathan Pasternack and Robin Zebaida'.
She made her début recital at the age of 12, performed her first concerto at 16 with the Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka as joint winner of the their biennial concerto competition, and has since performed in notable venues in Europe, the United States and Asia. She has been on the part-time teaching faculty of Edinburgh University since 2007 where she has taught in its departments of Linguistics and Music.
About Grand Piano Overtone
As the Grand Piano catalogue continues to grow, the label remains dedicated to its mission of discovering and recording little-known gems of the piano repertoire. It is also committed to promoting exciting new developments, the latest being a new sub-label Grand Piano Overtone, which presents world première recordings of pianists performing their own compositions. Overtone’s two debut albums feature artists from very cosmopolitan backgrounds, whose music reflects the harmonious integration of a classical training with the artists’ individual cultural influences. Turn the handle and step into a new musical world. The covers of the new Overtone series feature photographer Annabel Lee’s intriguing images of doors and gates, symbolising gateways to a novel dimension in piano performance and the opening of opportunities for pianist-composers to express their own unique voice.
Also Available
GP694
Iranian composer Afshin Jaberi’s powerful music combines 19th-century western piano traditions with eastern melodic influences. It is strongly connected with the message of equality and peaceful unity promoted by his religious faith. The Báb Ballades depict dramatic heroism and tragic sacrifice, while the Sonatas express the horrors of war and the fragility of remote cultures, out of which new hope and the chance for reconciliation can emerge.
