Prashant Bhargava

In the old city of Ahmedabad, amid India's largest kite festival, a family duels, spins and soars like the countless kites in the skies above.

Two men from South Asia meet on a New York subway train. One is seeking the American dream and in the process has abandoned his family and culture. The other, now disillusioned by material dreams of success, yearns for meaning and memories from his childhood. Prashant Bhargava’s award-winning short film was described as “an elegant and poetic evocation of immigrant angst, memory and haunted spirituality” by the Village Voice.

Bhargava and Iyer were inspired by the centennial of the Stravinsky-Nijinsky The Rite of Spring to explore another of rite of spring: the Hindu festival of Holi, famous for its revelry of color in celebration of the love between the divine Krishna and mortal-born Radha. In northern India, Bhargava filmed the ravishing images of an eight-day Holi festival held in the city of Mathura, mythic birthplace of Krishna. Iyer – who released his ECM debut, Mutations, earlier this year – then composed his score as the musical complement to Bhargava’s beautiful visual ballet, drawing at times on the rhythms and chants of the Holi festival; the result is one of Iyer’s warmest, most colorful creations to date, as rich melodically as it is texturally. RADHE RADHE: Rites of Holi is a kaleidoscopic experience.