“It was like the music came from nowhere and revealed itself to us”
Earlier this month, Professor Vijay Iyer was interviewed by the Harvard Gazette regarding his GRAMMY-nominated album Love in Exile.
Vijay Iyer remembers the moment when his trio’s Grammy-nominated song was born in a New York recording studio. It started as a repeating figure that Iyer played on the piano. Multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily joined with a bass line, providing a counterpoint to Iyer’s notes. When Pakistani singer Arooj Aftab entered with a serene Urdu vocal melody, Iyer said, it sounded as if the piece “already existed before it happened.”
“I remember the moment of creation and feeling like it came from nowhere, or just came through somehow and emerged, fully formed,” said Iyer, Franklin D. and Florence Rosenblatt Professor of the Arts. “Everything just felt right as it happened.”
Iyer’s work with Ismaily and Aftab is nominated for the 66th Annual Grammy Awards in two categories this year. Their 2023 album “Love in Exile” is nominated for Best Alternative Jazz Album, while “Shadow Forces,” the third track on the album, is nominated for Best Global Music Performance. Iyer plans to attend the Los Angeles ceremony on Sunday.