Guitarist Matthew Montfort was the inaugural performer of a series of online Alternate Reality Concerts from the Ancient Future on his birthday in February 2021. Ancient Future’s last pre-pandemic performance was in September 2019 at the Kentucky Mine Amphitheater in Sierra City, California. Indian tabla master Aditya Kalyanpur shared a video of that concert with Jhankar, an Indian arts organization in Ohio, and they came forth to sponsor a virtual concert featuring Kalyanpur, Montfort, and keyboard wizard Frank Martin in June 2021.
L.E.T.S. Live on Endangered Species Day
The first release from the Alternate Reality concerts is set for Endangered Species Day (5/20/2022). Lustful Elephants Trumpet Spring (L.E.T.S.) was composed by Matthew Montfort after studying Rag Basant, a springtime raga that captures the feeling of separated lovers longing to unite. The caption on an associated ragamala painting read: "Bound with a peacock's feathers...his face is as a flower. Elephant-like, he joyfully wanders in the forest among the gopis. Such is Basant raga." Montfort woke up in the middle of the night dreaming of a melody that conjures elephants in mating season. It begins with a low riff that depicts an elephant's legs, and then moves to a jump from low to high like an elephant trumpeting in excitement. The piece quickly became a part of Ancient Future's live repertoire, and a studio version is in production.
L.E.T.S. Save the Elephant for Earth Day
Save the Elephant Day (4/16/22) aims to raise public awareness about the dangers elephants face, such as ivory traders and loss of habitat. The public can show their support by sharing useful information on social media and by contributing to elephant conservation organizations such as the Elephant Crisis Fund.
There's another meaning for "save the elephants." Digital music platforms use pre-save data to determine which new releases to feature on their official release dates. So, after folks do their part to save the elephants, they can then pre-save musical elephants at their favorite digital music platforms now by following this link: https://orcd.co/letslive. L.E.T.S. will then appear in their accounts starting on Earth Day (4//22/22)!
Pre-Save: https://orcd.co/letslive
L.E.T.S. Watch from A.F.A.R.
A shortened preview video of L.E.T.S. is on YouTube. The full video with hi-res audio is currently available exclusively to supporters of the Archive of Future Ancient Recordings, Ancient Future's fan funded recording project.
