Refuge by Aman Mahajan

Refuge is a reflective set of musical themes exploring ideas of home and paying homage to inward journeys. Created and refined over a decade, the music deals with the human condition, finding resonance across the globe.

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"Mahajan’s syncretic, contemporary approach does not belong to a particular style of music, yet as one listens, the music grows quite special as the pianist weaves a dense yet liberating spell over the listener." —Pratap Antony

"The stunning artwork aptly betrays a delightful album that weaves a densely captivating and insightful, yet fleeting and liberating, narrative with its intricate piano pieces." —Wild City ‘Singled Out’

"Mahajan’s tunes are deceptively simple and most of them lend themselves to easy recall. We believe they also lend themselves to being hits." —BangaloreMag

"There is an inner sense to his playing that, although it nods to jazz, Indian folk and classical, very much breathes with its own life...the piano feels like a friend of many years, coaxing love out of Aman and making suggestions of where the pieces might lead." —FREQ Magazine

"Mahajan’s compositions encompass a contemporary approach to music and incorporate a whole range of musical structures and stimulating rhythmic cycles; with interesting melody lines and harmonies. The compositions may sound simple, but they are filled with rhythmic complexity, intriguing harmonies and appealing melodies, all of them unique." —Explocity Bangalore

"Mahajan’s music is, despite the brisk tempo at which it is mostly played, quite deep in its melodic structure, often reflective... the ideas behind his work, as reflected in the titles or themes of the pieces played, are deep." —The Hindu


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- A work in progress since 2005, this album is also a musical scrapbook that documents the composer’s life and explorations. The music thrives on the synthesis of myriad influences – jazz, Indian and European classical traditions, music from the American continents, Japanese and East Asian aesthetics, West African music, and folk music from around the world.

- Casual and extended improvisation play key roles in developing most of these pieces.

- Equal parts structured and improvised, the music has featured instruments as diverse as the saxophone, tabla, duduk, bamboo flute, electric and acoustic bass, voice, bass clarinet, and drum set.

- This is essentially a collection of pieces that originated at the piano, travelling across the world through collaboration, meeting a multitude of musicians and audiences along the way, only to return to the piano in this avatar.

Indian pianist-composer Aman Mahajan plays improvised music as a medium of exploration, expression and exchange.

amanmahajanmusic.com

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Radha Thomas & Aman Mahajan
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