Thom Blum is a Bay Area electroacoustic and acousmatic musician who, after visiting the exhibition, Picturing Sound: Creating Mood at the Asian Art Museum (March 23–November 22, 2015), was inspired to create a response to this painting of a seated yogini.

“How can one portray a still image, frozen in time, using an ‘in-time’ medium like music?” Blum asks. “My goal—and challenge—was to create a complement for this painting, one that encourages the viewer to linger just a little longer and perhaps to look deeper; to experience the musician, the water, the birds, and the full moonlit night.”

This sound portrait uses digital sound-processing techniques applied to two vihag (“late-night”) ragas.*

*Vihag Raga performed by Buddahadev Das Gupta and Devendra Kanti Chakrabarty, and Lat uljhi suljha jaa baalam: Raga Bihag (Vihag) performed by Rujul Pathak Pota, featuring Ajay Joglekar and Pravin Shinde.