HARLINGEN, Texas - Acclaimed cellist Chris Votek has just released a self-composed recording, Memories of a Shadow.

The recording is a three-movement string quintet that blends raga melody with early European polyphony. It is available on MicroFest Records.

I recently recorded an interview with Chris, noting that he performs both western classical music and Indian classical music. He said the way music is taught is different around the world.

“Some music is taught through reading music off the page, like Western music, particularly in school. You go to learn music and band, you're going to get a piece of sheet music put in front of you, and you're gonna have to learn how to learn how to read that and play it. But music all over the world is not taught like that. For the most part, music is taught through an oral tradition of imitating,” Votek told me.

Votek's fluency in musical languages from North Indian classical, Arabic, electronica, jazz, ambient, Western classical to pop, makes him highly sought after as a performer, composer, arranger, recording artist, producer, and sound engineer. 

On Memories of a Shadow, Votek is joined by members of the Grammy®-nominated new music collective Wild Up including violinists Andrew Tholl and Adrianne Pope, violist Ben Bartelt and cellist Derek Stein. 

I hope you enjoy the interview.