For Good Measure, by Ensemble for These Times (E4TT) Episode 38: Juhi Bansal (part 5)
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In this week’s episode, we talk to Juhi Bansal about how the pandemic affected her as a composer and artist, and the exciting projects she has coming up. If you enjoyed today’s conversation and want to know more about Juhi Bansal, check her out here: juhibansal.com. Parts of this episode originally premiered on Feb 2021, found on Youtube, click here.
This podcast is made possible in part by a grant from the California Arts Council and generous donors, like you. Want to support For Good Measure and E4TT? Make a tax-deductible donation or sign up for our newsletter, and subscribe to the podcast!
Intro music: “Trifolium” by Gabriela Ortiz, performed by E4TT (Ilana Blumberg, violin; Abigail Monroe, cello; Margaret Halbig, piano), as part of “Below the Surface: Music by Women Composers,” January 29, 2022 Outro music: “Lake Turkana” by Marcus Norris, performed by E4TT (Margaret Halbig, piano), as part of “Alchemy,” October 15, 2021
Transcription courtesy of Otter.ai.
Producer, Host, and E4TT co-founder: Nanette McGuinness Audio Engineer: Stephanie M. Neumann Podcast Cover Art: Brennan Stokes Interns: Roziht Edwards and Merve Tokar
[INTRO MUSIC] Welcome to For Good Measure, an interview series celebrating diverse composers and other creative artists sponsored by grant from the California Arts Council. I'm Nanette McGuinness, artistic executive director of Ensemble For These Times. In this week's episode, we continue our conversation with Juhi Bansal, who we spoke to in February 2022[INTRO MUSIC ENDS]. How was the pandemic affected your composing? Have you had performances canceled? or postponed?
Juhi Bansal:
I mean, it's been a whirlwind. I think that's true for everybody. Yeah, now we're entering 2022 As you and I are having this conversation, and it's my feelings about the pandemic, or one thing last year, if you had asked me this, and in 2022, it just, it feels like it's been a series of these ups and downs, and ups and downs. And, you know, you know, we're talking about some silver linings as far as opportunities that have come up and digitally being able to share music and reach audiences that otherwise we don't get to. And on the one sentence, I'm so grateful for some of those silver linings like, I've met a number of people like fabulous people, musicians, new audience members, like just new connections, that I don't think would have happened without the pandemic, things that I'm really grateful for. But yes, there's been a lot of uncertainty also with projects being cancelled and postponed and, you know, things that are kind of in a little bit of a holding pattern currently. So you're not 100% Sure what will happen. And I, I, you know, everybody's in the same boat as far as not knowing exactly what's going to happen day to day, much less week to week and month to month. I think we're all just trying to keep positive, trying to keep flexible and who's ready to roll with whatever happens next.
Nanette McGuinness:
What are some upcoming events or projects of yours that we can look forward to?
Juhi Bansal:
I'm sure one I'm really excited about right now is actually a commission for Songfest, which I guess, is moving up to San Francisco this year. That's a big change that quite excited about. And I'm still working out some of the details, but I know that it's going to be a song cycle somehow inspired by Afghani women's voices. And I found a couple of texts that I am really excited to set. I guess I'll give the short version in that there were a couple of poetry societies in Afghanistan, where there were one of the things they had was an anonymous phone line that you could call in and share poetry, because some of these young woman were again, not allowed to be involved in anything artistic, not allowed to share anything artistic. So I found a few transcripts of just poetry. Somebody had called in anonymously to this online left on a voicemail, and that was, you know, how they would share their feelings and their art because it's the only way that they were able to. So that is what I'm taking as a starting point for this project for Songfest, I'm really excited to write. There's also the orchestral piece we talked about earlier for Oregon, Mozart players that is coming up in April, really excited about a number of other small projects right now. I think I'm just I'm so excited that there are projects given all the challenges of this best time, you know, and just really grateful to be able to write music for ensembles that I really inspired by and musicians that I'm really inspired by. And I'm just really grateful for the opportunities as they come basically.
Nanette McGuinness:
[OUTRO MUSIC] Thank you for listening to For Good Measure, and a special thank you to our guest, Dawn Norfleet for joining us today. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to our podcast by clicking on the subscribe button and support us by sharing it with your friends, posting about it on social media and leaving us a rating and a review. To learn more about E4TT Our concert season online and in the Bay Area where to make a tax deductible donation, please visit us at www.E4TT.org. This podcast is made possible in part by a grant from the California Arts Council and generous donors like you. "For Good Measure" is produced by Nanette McGuinness and Ensemble for These Times, and designed by Brennan Stokes. With special thanks to audio engineer extraordinaire Stephanie Neumann. Remember to keep supporting equity in the arts and tune in next week "for good measure." [OUTRO MUSIC ENDS]