These compositions are my tribute to water in its many forms, from a single tiny drop to broad rivers on their journey to the seas. The river is the water form we are all familiar with - it is elemental life force, nourishing and sustaining, brining fields and flowers to bountiful richness, whose banks give shelter to trees and animals and birds. The playfulness of the sparkling waters, now radiant in the sunlight, now cascading in waterfalls, now swollen by shimmering curtains of rain as the river traverses the rural heartland - these are visual images I have translated in to music. But water, and the river, have an awesome aspect too, powerful and even destructive. Its elemental, cosmic nature and its potential for fury and havoc are musically described in the opening parts.

The compositions span different musical idioms from classical raga to folk-based melody and a more contemporary interpretation. Sound effects have been used sparingly, to suggest ambience rather then define it. Traditional instruments have been used througout, though sometimes unconventionally, except for the bass guitar which I have used to underscore rhythm and as an almost jazz-like counterpoint in the last piece.

The river has many faces. These compositions are musical impressions of those faces, visual images recreated in sound.

- HARIPRASAD CHAURASIA