Rajna Swaminathan: Of Agency and Abstraction (Biophilia)

Rajna Swaminathan is a virtuoso on the mrudangam, the two-headed, tuned hand drum essential to Carnatic music, and in a surprisingly brief time has made a name for herself both in Indian classical music and jazz.

But Of Agency and Abstraction is not just another entry in the catalog of Indian-flavored jazz albums. As a composer conversant in multiple styles of improvisation, Swaminathan seems most interested in exploring relationships between pitch and rhythm across various musical traditions, an idea that draws heavily from Carnatic music theory but also has a significant footprint in jazz.