Terry Riley

The story of Roger Daltrey (vocals), Pete Townshend (guitar), John Entwistle (bass) and Keith Moon (drums): The Who, one of the most original, creative and relevant British bands of the sixties and of the entire history of pop music.

This documentary celebrates the life of a devoted musician: Pandit Pran Nath. The last in a long line of north Indian vocal masters in the Kirana style of Indian classical music, we trace his journey from India, accompanied by his disciple, the avant-garde composer Terry Riley, in their search for purity of expression.

American composers have long struggled against the momentum of the Western European classical tradition and the prestige it has held in America's cultural life. "I did not want to have any stricture at all, I wanted to be completely free." So spoke Harry Partch, describing not only his own path, but also that of two other influential American composers: Lou Harrison and Terry Riley. They were attracted to musical ideas and sounds outside of the surrounding classical mainstream. Together they offer a deeper understanding of what those alternatives are and how they have affected American culture.

In 1975, the composer Robert Ashley embarked on an ambitious work titled Music With Roots in the Aether. He called it an opera (or piece of theater, depending on the case) for television. The work is comprised of seven two-hour sections. Each episode is dedicated to investigations, interviews, and performances of one of his peers – David Behrman, Philip Glass, Alvin Lucier, Gordon Mumma, Pauline Oliveros, and Terry Riley, respectively, with the final reserved for himself.