Prayer Wheel Program Notes

Over the past three years I have been creating long ambient works, spectral treatments of various recordings. Prayer Wheel is the third such completed work, based on an indie folk album with Tibetan lyrics. The original artist is New York’s Kesang Marstrand. The Tibetan Buddhist mantra wheels are sometime spun in both directions, for a more powerful effect. I create a crossfluence of frequencies in my elaboration of Kesang’s songs, before sculpting them further. The result could be experienced as a regular piece of music, if one might spare an hour and a half, or as background listening. Kesang’s album, Karmapa Khyeno, can be found at https://kesangmarstrand.bandcamp.com/album/karmapa-khyeno.

Vedran Mehinovic
January 31, 2021

About the Author

Vedran Mehinovic was born in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Composition from New England Conservatory, and a doctorate from UC Santa Cruz. In 2007, his piece RA was selected as one of just three orchestral works to be performed during the Gaudeamus Music Week in Amsterdam, winning an Honorable Mention at the week’s end. An enthusiast of world arts, Mehinovic has organized concerts of Korean, Hindustani, Uyghur, and Chinese music. His works have been performed in Bosnia, Croatia, Switzerland, France, Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, Japan, Korea, and the United States.