Behta Jaa - World Premiere | Making History 2024

Ecco performs Behta Jaa, the third movement of Reena Esmail’s Sunaao, whose sinuous musical lines invite us to let go and to “flow like the river”. We are delighted to share the world premiere of this new work by the Indian-American composer Reena Esmail. Sunaao (“Sing for Me”) was commissioned by a consortium of youth choirs, including PEBCC, led by the Southern California Vocal Association. Reena, who is trained in both Hindustani (north Indian) classical music and Western classical music, seeks to bring those two traditions into dialogue with each other in her work. Of Sunaao, she explains:
"Sunaao is a set of three pieces designed to introduce young choirs to the Hindi/Urdu language. Aao beckons us to share our musical traditions with one another, exploring changing open vowels. Khattar Pattar uses a distinctive style of Hindi/Urdu onomatopoeia to describe how we sometimes let our thoughts run out of control. Behta Jaa invites us to lean into ease and levity, to not be too hard on ourselves, as it contrasts dark and light sounds.
The word “sunaao” literally translates as “have me listen”, but is closer in meaning to “tell me” or “sing for me”. It is the act of engaging someone in a sonic experience by listening to others, of sharing and hearing sounds that are meaningful to us with others. Each song is designed to teach linguistic concepts of Hindi, musical concepts of Hindustani music, and to remind us to approach new ideas from a place of curiosity instead of judgment."