Ragas are a thing in Indian music I leave to non-analysis. They are to be performed at a specific time of day, so some for morning, some for evening, and so forth. There is no analogue in Western music.
Terry Riley is a force of nature in music. You know many justborn stars burning brightly in music. At age 72, Riley has been burning for some time, very, very brightly.
Musique concrète is very, very early electronic music. The most experimental musicians back in the day explored it using the first electronic music instruments and tape loops, an early sampling technology. John Cage, fellow Buddhist to Riley, was the first to incorporate chance into composition, ordering phrases into a piece by random processes such as the I-Ching, in 1951.
In the 1950's, Riley began experimenting with tape loops. Influenced by Stockhausen (I recorded once a Stockhausen piece, Kontakte, a piece for 4 electronic channels and a bevy of live percussion. Its score is a work of art), Riley, soon after, went much, much, further out.
Combining these influences, Riley produced the first minimalist composition mass released In C in 1964. Collaborator Steve Reich, and followers Philip Glass, John Adams, Robert Ashley, ultimately influenced Brian Eno's ambient music. That thread has continued in many forms of today's electronica.
Riley is somewhat infamous for all night improv concerts in the 60's. The audience camped in sleeping bags or bundled in blankets. In that time, he discovered Indian classical music. Studying under Pandit Pran Nath, Riley became primarily a classical Indian vocal musician. That is his long lived musical vector for this morning. His long lived friendships bring him here.
Riley sings morning ragas for an intimate audience at the Community Music Center, a beautiful thing in itself. It's 3350 SE Francis. Performance 11AM, $20, door only.
