The Ragamala tradition of cultural synesthesia dating back to the 15th century in the Indian subcontinent essentially brought together music, visuals and poetry. Each raga would be assigned with moods, seasons and hour of the day, and a work of art combining painting with descriptive poetry would be created as a synesthetic response. Raga Yaman is largely associated with the blue hour or hour of twilight, while the mood assigned typically with that of the viraha rasa, the melancholy of separation from the beloved haunting its notes as the world around is enveloped in a mist of blue.
This work is situated at the meeting ground of individual, cultural and digital synesthesia in the context of ancient Indian classical music. The audio visualisation software Milkdrop 3.0 is used to create audio reactive abstract visuals that correspond to my personal synesthetic associations with the piece of music Raga Yaman by Ust. Vilayat Khan. The installation is immersive with continuous projection on three walls of a white cube space displaying live audio reactive visuals in a performance format. The audience is welcome to walk through and immerse in the piece, as well as interact with the software to generate visuals that respond to the score of Raga Yaman.