Eshantha fund-raising for free album
Eshantha Joseph Peiris estimates it will cost him $4,500 to produce his first album – but he’ll be giving it away for free. At the time of writing, the pianist had already raised close to half the amount on the crowd-funding site Indiegogo. Fans who went online to donate to the cause will receive something in return – there are hour long piano classes and free piano tune-ups on offer, but also signed music worksheets, invites to the launch concert and – if you donate enough – your name on the album sleeve under the title producer. Considering its progress and with 24 days still left to go, ‘Global Rhythms Reimagined’ is well on its way to meeting its launch deadline this summer.
“If I can successfully meet my target of $4,500 (before my November 17 deadline) through crowd-funding alone, I will be proud to have demonstrated that music fans truly do have the ability to sustain an industry of independent professional musicians making innovative and quality recordings,” Eshantha tells the Sunday Times. The amount, which includes a fee for him as a performer and covers the costs of spending four days in a studio in Singapore, makes it possible for him to give the music away for free. Fans will be able to download the entire album online where an accompanying website will provide insight into the music and details about the composers.
“Given that the music in this album draws on very diverse sources of inspiration, most of it will probably sound unfamiliar to listeners,” says Eshantha, explaining that the site is intended to be a key part of the album experience. Aside from information about the compositions and the musical traditions they derive from, it will also contain embedded videos which provide
Eshantha Peiris. Pic by Sachini Perera
glimpses into the original context of the music. The featured pieces are drawn from many different countries – meeting Esthantha’s criterion for ‘modernist compositions inspired by traditional rhythms from around the world,’ the more distilled version of which has become the album’s title ‘Global Rhythms Reimagined.’
“‘Reimagined’ is probably the key word here; these are not simply ‘piano versions’ of traditional dance music,” says Eshantha. The composers he’s chosen to feature are from countries as diverse as Brazil, Bulgaria, Egypt and Korea but have an academic background in western music in common. Eshantha appreciates how in their compositions they’ve taken the ideals of modernism, and applied them to their local musical rhythms, thereby creating something new but relevant to their audiences. “The best analogy I can think of is post-colonial literature, in which Indian and African writers have used the English language and its writing conventions and given them new life in very non-English contexts.”
One of the tracks – ‘Mona Magul Bereyakdha May?’ – is Eshantha’s own composition. While those of other composers featured on the album will remain protected, Eshantha says he will be listing his piece under a Creative Commons Licence which will allow anyone the freedom to distribute, modify and even make money out of it. He’s hoping that the ideas and artistic inspiration he so values will take on new life in the hands of other creators. It’s a natural extension of the philosophy that has determined how he wants to produce and share the album.
“Rather than subscribing to an outdated model in which major corporations dictate the content and nature of the music industry (without paying attention to the needs of the musicians and consumers), I think that this new industry model in which music consumers use their collective power to finance new recordings makes a lot of sense.” It’s an acknowledgement that digital media is near impossible to keep constrained with ties of intellectual property rights and legislation, but Esthantha believes everyone can still win – “musicians can produce the music they like, fans can actively choose what music they want to listen to, and labels can continue to give publicity to growing trends on a scale unfeasible for fan-networks.” Now, with ‘Global Rhythms Reimagined’ he’s happy to be part of the grand experiment.
To find out more: http://igg.me/at/fund-eshanthas-piano-album