Aṣ̌əm Vohū Aṣ̌əm vohū vahištəm astī uštā astī uštā ahmāi hyat̰ aṣ̌āi vahištāi aṣ̌əm Truth is best (of all that is) good. True, as desired, as desired, truth is for her who (represents) best truth.
– Ancient Zoroastrian Prayer
The Ashem is one of three ancient prayers in our religion. Its theme is that Virtue or Righteousness is the basis of a good life of purity of thoughts, purity of speech and purity of actions. This text is from the religion I grew up in, Zoroastrianism. Large numbers of our people migrated to India from Ancient Persia. The central pillarstone to this religion is a path of good thoughts, good words and good deeds. Writing this piece has been a great joy as it has been a very personal piece for me. This piece was written without an audience in mind – solely for the performers in the ensemble. It is an attempt at a reflection on our own sense of self.
Choral ensemble: Wynton Gage, Marcus Peterson, Sergey Tkachenko, Nolan Synder, Madeline McCarthy, Miggi Angangco, Ashlyn Brown, Catarine Hancock, Anthony Josep, Jason Edelstein, Charlie Banta, Elijah Bowen, Jake Cozza, Sophia Romaine, Lara Van Vuuren, Sami Copeland, Perri Smith, Zac Leung, Howell Petty, Carmela D’Agostino.
Conductor: Kahan Taraporevala