Weaving a Spell

ASHA SRINIVASAN EXPLORES THE INTERSECTION OF ELECTRONIC MUSIC AND NATURE.

Ecomusicology

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Words by Amy Lynch

As an associate professor of music at Lawrence University in Wisconsin, Indian-American composer Asha Srinivasan was going about the usual business of teaching when opportunity came knocking. Emailing, actually.

In a serendipitous gesture inspired by plant ecologist Robin Wall Kimmerer’s book

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom,

Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants, oboist Sara Fraker reached out to Srinivasan in 2015 with the intention of commissioning her to write a 10-minute piece that incorporated oboe, electronic music and natural sound. “I’m a big NPR fan; I’d just listened to an interview with Kimmerer on ‘To the Best of Our Knowledge’ about the grammar of animacy she talks about in her book, and I found it so evocative,” Srinivasan remembers. “When I randomly got the email from Sara about composing a piece related to sustainability and the environment, she brought up the interview.”

After talking broadly about the project, Srinivasan and Fraker discussed Braiding Sweetgrass and conferred on each chapter, enjoying Kimmerer’s distinctive voice and descriptions, listing sections that stood out to see what overlapped.

“I hadn’t done much with natural soundscapes before, so I wanted to keep it simple with some bird and nature sounds,” Srinivasan says. “Originally, I thought about doing a multimovement piece with three or four different chapters, but it evolved into one continuous piece that touched on the three central concepts of the book — gratitude, listening to our natural world and animacy.”

The finished piece, Braiding: Lessons from Braiding Sweetgrass* opens with an expression of thanks through oboe and spoken word, thrusting the listener into a surreal, noisy dystopia before settling into a natural soundscape, then transitioning to close on a joyful, uplifting note with wind chimes. Like the strands of a braid, Srinivasan drew upon the principles of music, ecology and Native American traditional ecological knowledge to inform her work, skillfully weaving the three into something beautiful. Although Kimmerer’s book served as an initial catalyst for the project, the author didn’t get to hear “Braiding” for the first time — or meet Srinivasan and Fraker — until the world premiere of the piece at the University of Arizona in 2017.

“Her response was amazing; she loved it,” Srinivasan recalls. “There was even a moment when I saw her wipe away a tear.”

Defined by ethnomusicologist Jeffrey Todd Titon as “the study of music, culture, sound and nature in a period of environmental crisis,” ecomusicology is gaining awareness in modern music circles, but Srinivasan says the notion isn’t really new.

“Ever since recording equipment was invented, people have been recording the sounds of nature,” she explains. “Acoustic ecology has been going on for a while. Music isn’t just about pitches and rhythm. For instance, when I go on a hike, the sounds I hear in the woods are music.”

Next up for Srinivasan — a new piece for the Damselfly Trio, a high school band piece and a solo piece for the 2023 National Flute Association high school competition. She also recently finished a new composition for violin and cello to premiere this year. “I go where the projects take me!” she laughs. ■

Asha Srinivasan, Photo by Rachel Crowl *Braiding: Lessons from Braiding Sweetgrass is available on YouTube and Spotify. Ecomusicology

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