For as long as I can remember I've had an urge to make sound, be it with my voice, the tapping of pots and pans, or plucking of rubber bands wrapped around tupperware boxes as a child.
I came towards the guitar as a teenager who had been previously told that I was too 'disabled' to play by a music teacher at school. Somehow I ended up finding my own way to play an Ikea bought nylon string guitar on display at home despite the physical limitations of my nerve injury from birth. Thank goodness for that Ikea guitar waiting for me to play it.
Music will always be the first creative muse that allowed me to fuse my love of poetry, dance and connection to the mystery. For as long as I live, I will be exploring sound.
Here's some of my music projects:
Mauta, 2023
'Mauta' means death in Punjabi. Mauta is a sonic journey and meditation on loss, grief, and collective amnesia written by me, Tara Rai, accompanied & co-produced by Alex Forster.
After many moons of composing music in solitude and losing my grandmother, I wanted to solidify my long standing enquiry on death. Forster has been a creative midwife, helping me push the boundaries of my vocal and melodic range, thus transforming my songs into a multi dimensional listening experience. The completion of the EP was a one year process that saw through the seasons in Forster’s garden studio in South London, as well as the witnessing of a few unexpected losses, all carefully woven into the 5 track journey that is Mauta.
Bardo - 2024
Bardo is the follow up to the Mauta EP written by my self and co-produced again with Alex Forster. The 4 track EP explores the Buddhist term for the liminal space between death and rebirth: Bardo.
The songs are an invitation to sit in the in-between and welcome the mystery of not knowing. All music can be found on the major streaming platforms including Spotify, Apple Music and Bandcamp.
Cover artwork created by my hands and co-curated by Alex Forster.
