Anuj Bhutani traces how Manu — a project that began as a collection of musical self-portraits — gradually revealed itself as something he'd always been working toward: a direct engagement with storytelling, identity, and a heritage he'd spent much of his early life distancing himself from. The piece's title comes from a family nickname he never fully understood until he asked his mother, which opened a path toward a Hindu flood myth he hadn't known, one that turned out to map onto his own life in unexpected ways. Bhutani describes growing up assimilating — rejecting Indian food, disengaging from Hindi lessons, playing in rock bands — and only beginning to re-engage with Indian culture through a Carnatic percussion class at UT Austin. Now, as composer, performer, librettist, and subject simultaneously, he's working with a dramaturg and a director to discover what the piece actually is. What it keeps returning to is a question about myths themselves: stories that aren't chosen, but given — and what it means to finally reckon with them.
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micro/Maker is a production of Loose Leaf Transmissions: Made for All Ears.