Cultures meld with the Temporal Taal Collective

The globe gets a little bit smaller when the Temporal Taal Collective is in the room. Blending American jazz with Hindustani music, and flourishes of classical, the group creates a rich sound that is both soothing and stirring, music that demonstrates decidedly that it is, in fact, the universal language.

Temporal Taal performs in concert Thursday, Sept. 18 on the Palladium Theater’s Hough Hall stage.

Saxophonist Anjan Shah, a resident of Maryland who’s current in Chicago finishing up his Master’s degree in Music, spent many years as a sideman, both in the studio and on the stage.

“I grew up in Detroit in the ‘70s and ‘80s, and for me, it’s reconciling my Indian heritage. I wasn’t white, I wasn’t Black, so I was equally discriminated against by both of those communities! Because I didn’t fit in.

“And the only place where I found that I could fit in was in K through 12 band. All my effort was focused on playing the saxophone, and my dad through the years said ‘You should learn Indian music.’”

After his father passed away in 2019, Shah explained, “I really started to reacquaint myself with that part I’d denied, because of my desire to want to fit in. To be quote-unquote American.”

It was a lightbulb moment. “And now I see a very clear path, artistically, for myself,” he said. “Now I feel I have a voice, and I have a vision. Especially now, when there’s such a division between cultures.”

Ella Fredrickson was principal librarian for The Florida Orchestra for 28 years. Photo: Jim Lennon.

The catalyst for bringing Temporal Taal to St. Petersburg is Ella Frederickson, who worked as principal librarian for The Florida Orchestra (for 28 seasons) and currently operates Tropical Zone Music, a production facilitation company.

Fredrickson was named a Palladium Creative Fellow for 2025; her project, she decided, would be this concert.

“In this case, I’m the glue,” she laughs. “I’m calling myself a music concierge now – in this case, I’m facilitating putting people in the right place at the right time. But I also believe in the music.”

More than a decade ago, she curated a five-year series, An Intimate Collaboration, at The Studio@620, combining art, poetry, chamber music, literature, history and even science. The shows focused on the chamber music written by the composers whose works were being played elsewhere in Florida Orchestra Masterworks concerts, and included “other elements. We always had a little thread.”

Frederickson and her collaborators liked to say the series was “serious fun,” because that’s what they were themselves having.

“The idea wasn’t really to sell tickets to the big concert,” she explained, “it was just, dive in a little bit deeper about the music and the composers. Exploring what’s in the neighborhood.”

Along with Shah, who also plays a variety of woodwind instruments, Temporal Taal includes Amy Shook (standup bass), Nabin Shrestha (tabla), Jonathan Epley (guitar) and Kathak (Indian classical) dancers and vocalists Sarah Morelli and Carrie Jennings.

“We incorporate Kathak dance into it to give it a visual aspect,” Shah said. “We are very music-oriented, but over the course of the last 15, 20 years everything has become so visual. And there’s such a rich tradition with Hindustani music deemed ceremonial and having a sacred component to it in the temples.

“And with the temples, there’s always a dance piece with it, that’s highlighted as a devotion to the deities, to the spiritual aspect of it. So we’re bringing a portion of that; by no means are we advocating for any sort of religion or anything like that, but it’s just the high quality of art that’s associated with this tradition that’s over 1,000 years old.”

Temporal Taal will conduct a workshop Wednesday for Arts Conservatory For Teens students.

Frederickson, who also arranged for Indian “finger food delicacies” to be available for attendees pre-show, will be in attendance Thursday to witness everything she’s accomplished with her Creative Fellowship. “I think that our community is filled with interesting people,” she enthused. “And we’re really lucky that this is a city of the arts. All of Tampa Bay, but I’m a little bit biased because I live in St. Pete.

“Having the Creative Fellowship allowed me to have a little creative fun. I missed all these shows for years because I was always working. So now I get the chance to actually sit back and listen.”

Tickets for Thursday’s 7:30 p.m. performance are at this link.