Asian Melodies

Engine-Earz & DJ Luxy - Kaliyuga

2009-06-04T11:01:00.001+02:00

Massssive track!

Cheb I Sabbah "La Ghriba: La Kahena remixed" (2006)

2009-03-27T21:22:00.003+01:00

DJ Cheb I Sabbah makes world-wide music. He's one of the artists that doesn't have boundaries. That is something I value and in my opinion, DJ Cheb I Sabbah is an extraordinary musician whose album "La Ghriba: La Kahena remixed" I'm going to give an overview.

The first track called Toura Toura is remixed by DJ Sandeep Kumar. Unfortunately the first track is not one of my favourites. Maybe the beat is not calling me for a dance or it's the vocals that do not blend with the other instruments. In my opinion the remix by The Chakadoons is better.
Second track Sadats which consists of a nice rap rhythms and original Sadats track. Interesting composing, not bad at all. New and refreshing! This is the kind of fusion I have not heard before.

Third track called Alkher Illa Doffor is one deep sh*t. This is true hardcore remix with techno beats and great Indian rhythms! This is the track to play at the party or in a car with a very good sound system. Deep, deep remix! One of my firm favourites from this album!

There are many reasons why I like this remix cd. One of them is the track called Esh 'Dani, Alash Mshit. This is the thing to listen! One of the best club fusion I've heard! I really like this simple trance base and this interesting vocal. Together they make extremely good track, awfully compelling track. I guess this is the most listened track from the albums of Cheb I Sabbah. I suggest you to listen to it!

The other strong part of this album is the beats. You can find so many different beats that are really interesting. Just as the other interpretation of Sadats (The Sufi Sonic remix). The beats is the best part of this track.

The last track Im Ninalou is like a pearl on the album. Instead of heavy beats, I found a woman singing in a very tender way and trip-hop sounds that always make my head spin around. Combined with an orchestra with stringed instruments it's altogether a very, very nice track! I guess when Gaurav Raina from Midival Punditz is remixing it, the reslut cannot be bad!

Overall, Cheb I Sabbah has got a lot to offer and this album is one of the party albums that I'm happy to own. Maybe not the most beautiful cover, but at least it's not thoroughly made of plastic.

Listen to the clips here

Top ten

2009-01-21T23:14:00.004+01:00

I've listened the kind of Asian music for some time now. I started using Last.fm program about two years ago and now I can tell you who I have listened most since then. These are the musicians that I found first, well at least first 10 of them. Anyways, it would be nice to hear who's your most listened artists!

Bobik's most listened artists in the past 2 years:

Nitin Sawhney
Karsh Kale
Talvin Singh
Banco de Gaia
Badmarsh & Shri
Bally Sagoo
Midival Punditz
Asian Dub Foundation
Navdeep
Bombay Dub Orchestra

Most listened tracks:

Nitin Sawhney "Homelands"
Badmarsh & Shri "Signs"
Nitin Sawhney "Beyond Skin"
Karsh Kale "Beautiful"
Bonobo "Terrapin"
Jay Dabhi "Mumbay After Dark"
Bally Sagoo "Salaam Dub"
Midival Punditz "Bhangra Fever"
Badmarsh & Shri "Get Up"
Karsh Kale "New Born Star"

Talvin Singh "Back To Mine" (2001)

2008-12-20T22:54:00.001+01:00

Talvin Singh's Back To Mine mix-album is almost a perfect chill-out album. If we leave out Swati Natekar's Kabhi Unke Milan Ke Asha Ne and Trilok Gurtu's Om, it's 100% full of goodies!

For Example Craig Armstrong is an excellent composer and his Weather Storm is a great chill opening track. Or Michael Brook's Dance, which starts slowly-slowly and then collects some power under it and finally it one of the funkies tracks I've listened.
Dreadzone's Cave of Angels is another briliant track. Pure chill-out, I enjoy especially the variety of instruments used in it, they blend well together.
Vibrasphere's Monsoon suits well into the mix-album with it's gloomy sounds! Also Photek's Lost Blue Heaven is something to play again and again. it's just so good album that it's hard to find something negative. Most of the tracks are so well picked!
Mix-album's last track is Nusrat fateh Ali Khan's Musst Musst (Massive Attack remix). This track is like a caramel candy. Outside tasty caramel and inside juicy jam. Massive Attack has done a great job remixing this old track by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. I think, this is one of the best tracks on this compilation. Most of the prevoius electronic chill-out music is awesome, but there's so much power in Nusrat's voice and with the music, it's one of my favourite picks from this album!

Nils Petter Molvaer's Song of Sand

Karsh Kale "Broken English" (2006)

2008-12-14T21:41:00.008+01:00

Broken English is the third album from Karsh Kale to be reviewed by Asian Melodies. It's quite obvious that KK is one of our favourite artists and I'm happy to tell you that this is again a very good album!

Broken English is yet again music that connects West and East. Global electronic music. Karsh Kale's music is perfect fusion. Sometimes listening to other artists, I feel that West and East is connected violently in their music. They don't blend together. Karsh Kale doesn't have that problem.
For example second track on this album, Dancing At Sunset. There's modern beats with nice guitar tunes mixed with percussion and tabla drums. Vocals in English and Indian? only makes it more perfect. Even better example is Beautiful (unfortunately there's only mix version available), which is one of the greatest tracks in Asian-British scene! It's just so tender and sweet that I don't understand why I haven't heard it so far from the radio. Compared to Punjabi MC's tracks, its also definitely worth playing in Western music radio channels. Beautiful is beautiful because it's vocals, bansuri sounds and modern beats. I have to point out that Midival Punditz's team is also behind this track. Seems that they prove again that they can make great tracks!

Otherwise, most of the album is full of dreaming sounds, yet so powerful ones. I would call it a dreaming techno sound. Pretty contradictional sounds, but awfully great ones!
A track called Drive is the one where's no powerful techno sounds. This is the one actually to listen before going to sleep. No vocals, just sitar and electronic sounds.
Opposite to Drive is Hole In the Sky, which is excellent track with deep tabla drum sessions (KK is the best with drums). There's so much action in it that it seems like I'm listening to a soundtrack from an action movie.

Listen to clips of all tracks from this album in Amazon.com
This is an album that you should definitely listen to!

(Due to broken disc I cannot review last third of this album. Thanks to HMV ;) Having listened to it before, I can tell you that the rest of the album is as good as the first part of it. If you have chance take a closer look!

Midival Punditz "Midival Punditz" (2002)

2008-11-11T01:51:00.007+01:00

A few weeks ago I felt that there isn't too many old Asian albums to buy. I thouht I've got most of the important ones. Of course, I was wrong. I knew that on this Midival Punditz album, one excellent track Bhangra Fever was there, but didn't know that there are many other good tracks!
Midival Punditz debut album is a real kicker. There's so much to enjoy. It starts with a great chill out track Air. Reminds me of these cheap meditating albums that you can find from esoterica shops. But, there's more sounds in it, breakbeat sound makes it an interesting track to listen. Also vocal sample suits into it very, very well. Love it!

Bhangra Fever is the kind of track that you will remeber forever. It's amazing what they have done with bhangra music and breakbeat. It's hard to describe it with words, but it blends awfully well together and it's definitely my next favourite track from MP after Ali (with Kailash Kher).
I started thinking what is that differentiates Midival Punditz from other breakbeat artists. The answer is that MP makes kind of a mysterious sounds. In other words, I would call it minimal breakbeat. And again, I have to say, it's excellent. Best example to it is Mercury. If something in my opinion is minimal breakbeat, then this is the one.

I have told you that my weak point in Asian music is the vocals. Especially female vocals that are so tender that can break so, so quickly. Smriti Minocha is one of the songbirds of India, performing this time on track called Night. Her voice is very beautiful and it suits well with this lazy beat music.

God Of Love is also another masterpiece in my opinion. So simple, yet so dancable. Sometimes I hear a track and think that it's a good one, but there's something missing in it. God Of Love is the track that I think to have everything. No need to change it. Very, very nice breakbeat music for the feet!

Dark Age finishes the album and does it very well. Lazy beat mixed with yet another great Indian vocal plus nice instrumentals. Together makes it my second favourite track on this album.

After many listenings I still think this is oe of the best Indian electronic music albums so far. I'm totally in love with it!

Nitin Sawhney "London Undersound" (2008)

2008-10-13T17:00:00.002+02:00

Sensational moment :)
I'm writing a review on a release day.

Nitin Sawhney's new album is more like a collection of thoughts after London terrorist attacks in 2005. This certainly is a very delicate subject and we all have our memories and thoughts about it.

There are some who have written an overview about the album, but almost doesn't mention the music. I don't concentrate so much on words than on musical side. Words have always been important to me, but the music is the device to bring the words to me. Sometimes the music does not do that. Or, just think of a person who doesn't understand English... He or She will always understand the melody and that's why it's the first and the most imporant thing in music.

Days Of Fire is full of words, but a bit emty of melody. I mean, let's just forget about London for once, then it's just an average track to me.
It's a different thing with October Daze, which is quite nice soft vocal track which reminds me of Finnish band Husky Rescue track Diamonds In the Sky. October Daze has got much more power in it, more juicy, but the kind of pop is still not what I'm looking for.
Bring It Home is again better than October Daze. Colourful jazzy rhythms with sweet vocal makes it a great track. There's the kind of speedy rhythms that Nitin is great at and this is the first track that I really like much.
Paul McCartney is a great musician. He's got a great voice that gives you hope. When listening to a track called My Soul with McCartney I feel like everything is possible. Strange, isn't it? Overall, a fair track indeed.
Distant Dreams, like Bring It Home is a great jazz track.
Shadowland is the track that I like most on this album. "There's a satisfying congruence between the sound-worlds of Sawhney and Ojos de Brujo in Shadowland" (Andy Gill) Love it. Sawhney's electronic work really blends well together with de Brujo's instruments.
Ek Taan is also beautiful. Piano + a very tender asian vocal makes it another favourite. Something to listen to again. I Guess there's the key hidden - lovely track doesn't have to be too complicated, with too many instruments etc.
Transmission with city sounds is interesting, but nothing special. I feel Nitin's handwriting from previous albums and this doesn't sound new to me. Lacking electric guitar maybe, more massiveattackalike sounds maybe?
Last Train To Midnight is flirting a bit with dubstep? Quite interesting track. The kind of track that the more you listen to it, the more you like it. Lot's of different sounds, a diverse track with nice female vocal. Again, I would expect more power in it. More anger, more frustration because of what happened.
Last track with Anoushka Shankar Charu Keshi Rain is the most India-influenced track on this album. Anoushka Shankar is goreous with her sitar play and the orchestra adds a depth to the track. Nice one!

Overall, it's not a bad album but not my favourite also. Compared to Beyond Skin, which concentrated on nuclear bomb problem in the same way as this one on London attacks, it's a weaker album. Maybe it is because I expected more anger on this one and hoped that there will be many new sounds and rhythms.

In a way this album with soft and sweet sounds is the right one, because it shows that there's not much left when the world is controlled by suicidal bombers and we should take a minute and think about it. But it's the music that has to come first.

Listen to samples here

Trickbaby "Chor Bazaar" (2008)

2008-10-11T11:31:00.000+02:00

Listen to the samples here

The sound of Chor Bazaar offers real substance which never fails to get the adrenaline flowing. The delicious mishmash of eclectic beats and soft, down-tempo vocals make it a solid, polished album expanding on the sound that Trickbaby crafted in their debut. An enjoyable album.

Trickbaby's first album was a real hit in UK in 2004. Now, four years later I can say that this one has to be at least as good as the previous one! I've been listening to it about two months and I'm enjoying it much! The reason is...

diverse sounds. There's many different musical instruments used and they blend well together.
The album starts with a track called Fighter. It's got great jumping beats, when listening to it you want to stand up and start dancing. Saira Hussein's voice is maybe a little bit soft when singing about being a fighter, but it doesn't ruin the whole pic.
My favourite track on this album is Baja. Starts with drums and mild vocal from Hussein. It's the kind of down-tempo track that suits for dancing and also for easy listening at home. Percussion do suit very well here with harmonica and and Husseins voice. I recommend you to listen to it (link above).
Light Up My Life is also chill track to listen. Hussein's voice makes it a softer track than it originally is. Seems to me that the vocal stills uits well with other instruments and makes the tracks more soft and tender. The same is with Babu. Otherwise an average track, but female vocal makes it a lot better.
Chor Bazaar is quite funny track. Russian male vocal + acordian + violin + bhangra = russian bhangra? Anyways, this is something you cannot expect and first it sounds too weird. Later I got used to it and now it seems just a track with lots of power in it.
Nine Parts is like All Saints has come back together. At least at some point it sounds very Western, too much pop music sound maybe?
Neelaa is totally opposite to all other tracks on this album. Pure club track. Something that makes my feet want to dance. I loved the first version of Neelaa and 08' is also awesome! Very nice beats and guitar tunes in it!

All together Trickbaby's second album is worth listening and themore I listen to it, the more I like it. A very diverse album indeed!

Let's see what MySpace offers to us this time

2008-09-17T13:13:00.006+02:00

It's the time of the year, when I make my new playlist of the best tracks on MySpace.com. I visted every MySpace British-Asian musician homepage that I've got here on Asian Melodies and chose my favourites. It took me many hours to make that list and I really do hope that you find many new favourites from here. First list of the best tracks on MySpace is here (Feb 14, 2008)

Here are my fav's this fall:

AG Dolla - Arranged Marriage
Asian Dub Foundation - Burning Fence
Badeshi - Love Song
Cheb I Sabbah - Jai Bhavani
Dhruva - Constructing the Absence
Dutty Skilla - To Whom It May Concern
Ges-E - Dil Se Ges And Shandy
LH1 - Radio Rage
Maja Blaze - Tappe vs. Lollipop
Dervish - Yadaan vs. Nonchalant Sounds
Pathaan - Dum Maro Dum
Radiohiro - Supernova
Ravaliya - Atomic Meditation
Sharmaji - Dheere Junglist
Shiva Soundsystem - The Rebirth
Sona Family - Crazy 4 Ya Dil Deewana
Stylus - Ji Ya
Superswamis - Blow
Swami - Ching
Talvin Singh - I Of a Bird
Trickbaby - Fighter

* Remark: I made this and the previous list, because it's my only way to make a compilation album with various artists. Let's call it Asian Melodies "MySpace Various Artists Album" or something. Anyways, I left out some great artists like Munty. The reason is that they've got only short clips of their nice tracks. Until they have new and long versions of their tracks, they won't be in this list. I mean, if I really like this artist, I buy their album and the more time I have to think how good they are, the more I am willing to buy their music. So, all you guys who upload to myspace only short clips, stop it! : )
Let us hear your excellent music from start to the end and more people will show respect and buy your album!

Nitin Sawhney "Fabriclive. 15" (2004)

2008-09-12T13:57:00.000+02:00

The Fabric Live series, since its inception, has showcased established artists as well as emerging names – portraying what is played at Fabric in London, one of the best clubs in the world.

This is an album with broken beats, jazzy sounds and trip-hop style music. Nitin Sawhney mixed only one track himself (Koop - Relaxin' At Club F****n - nice one), but you will find some his tracks mixed by other well-known DJ's.

Seiji remixed Nitin Sawhney's Eastern Eyes. He did it well, nice house track, but I cannot say, it's so special that I would like to listen to it more and more. I like another version of this track more. You can find it here: Eastern eyes with Sharon Duncan

Nitin's most popular track Homelands has two different mixes on the album. First one is by Free Form Five and the other by Dzihan & Kamien. FFF is using a little bit latino sounds in it (I'm not a huge Latino music fan), but he's fitted the latino sounds so well into the track that after a few listenings I started to like it, actually quite a lot! D&K remix is more like a trip-hop track and doesn't make too many changes to it, which sometimes is very good. No need to spoil the original taste of the song.

Beyond Skind by Nitin Sawhney is pure beauty. One of the sadest songs you'll find. Maybe even too sad if you compare it with the sounds of the rest of the CD.

Visionary Underground's Freedom is a great track. Nice breakbeat, Indian instruments and vocals. A track for the feet, for sure! VU has got a second track also on this album. This time with Ges-e. A track called Militant 24 has a very quick breakbeat sound and I'd say it's a very hardcore dance track, deep-deep breakbeat sounds plus Indian female vocal. Something that real hardcore electronic music fans would listen to over and over again.

This album has got a few good remixes and original tracks, but it's just not my kind of music. I mean, there are some brilliant tracks, of course, but generally it's too hardcore album. That's why, I would recommend it to listeners who like quick beats, techno music for example.

Talvin Singh "OK" (1998)

2008-09-12T00:31:00.000+02:00

Ah, yes! Talvin Singh! Ok that is! An album which I love a lot and an album where you will find two tracks that I cannot stand at all :) To tell you the ruth. it's one of the best out there. Yes, 10 years old sounds still sound fresh!

What makes it so special, then? With one sentence - it's dnb and tablas!
Ok kicks off with Traveller. An excellent track lasting long enough to think that you are already listening to the third track on the album. I still think that mixing dnb with the sounds that an orchestra can produce, is excellent. I still think that it is possible to mix Asian and Western sounds, classical and modern sounds, English and Indian vocals ...etc. What Talvin does is exactly what I like. He's mixing classical sounds with modern beats and he's very good at it!
Traveller is rather sad track, but Butterfly sounds a lot happier music. Again, the same tablas and dnb and asian instruments mixed together. I don't know why, but Butterfly reminds me of Karsh Kale and his sounds. There's something similar.
Third track Sutrix is more like a hardcore track. Heavy dnb beats plus melodic sounds makes it a good party track.
A track called Ok, like the name of the album is very intensive. Just like the album as a whole! Lots of instruments and lots of power in it!
Light is a track which is worth its name. Soft sounds mixed with tender dnb. Very good background music. I totally forgot to listen to the track, because it makes you think on other things. After a few minutes you find out that the room is silent, the album has finished playing in your cd-playerand you are already doind something else.
After two a bit sad songs Disser/ Point Mento B and Soni, the last track Vikram the Vampire is again very powerful! Starting rather quietly, but ending in techno music. Of course, this is a very intelligent techno music with tablas, percussion, piano and all kinds of sounds from our planet.

All together a very good album with a very different dnb music and not only!

Essential Asian Flavas Vol. 1 (2002)

2008-09-05T22:45:00.001+02:00

Yes, another compilation album full of Asian tunes. Quite good one also. Essential Asian Flavas is like a rainbow, lots of different scenes and artists. Many of them very well known. Panjabi MC, Rishi Rich, Punjabi Hit Squad, Jakatta, Badmarsh & Shri, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Trickbaby, Nitin Sawhney and last, but not least, Craig Armstrong with Swati Natekar. This album is like a candy store. It's full of sweets like the artists mentioned above. There aren't too many compilation albums out there that has got so many famous artists on it. Are they any good on this album though?

I have to say that Rishi Rich has produced many better tracks than Nahin Jeena. It's not crap, of course, but it's average. Panjabi MC is represented on this album with their world wide known hit Mundian To Bach Ke. No comments needed.
Punjabi Hit Squad has a good track on this album. Hasdi Hasdi (Hit Squad Mix) is so tender and sweet that every woman on the dancfloor would take her shirt of without noticing it. It's just the track to play when your'e in a good position.. er...i mean hugging and kissing of course. It's just the track to play on your CD player. Maybe it's just me, but it sounds a bit erotic. What do you think?
Jakatta is, of course, with So Lonely (Afterlife Remix). Just like Panjabi Mc, well know and no comments needed. Quality track!
Badmarsh & Shri's Signs is one of my favourite tracks from Asian scene. Bonobo mix is the best mix I've heard and this together makes it a very good track indeed! Something like a trip-hop music? This surely is something to listen again and again.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is classics, right? His track Tere Bin Nahin Lagda, which is mixed by Partners in Rhyme, is just awesome! Love it! Great minimalistic breakbeat is the result of the mix. By the way, it's from a soundtrack from a movie called Bend It Like Beckham. A very popular Indian movie!
Trickbaby, who's more known to me with a track Fighter, is represented with Neelaa. Neelaa is one of the best tracks on this album and that's a positive surprise to me! Great club track and a good music to listen at home also. Listen to her track Fighter and also Neelaa, here!
Nitin Sawnhey's Punjabi is interesting. Reminds me bhangra, but it's not quite right. Anyways, not my type of music, I think.
Craig Armstrong is as sad as always. Swati Natekar makes it even more unhappy with her cryingalike vocal. A very beautiful track indeed, but the last flavor is too sad. I guess there has been many flavors that are sweet as a candy and there had to be something that tastes like sadness. That's what makes the album to be like a rainbow. You find all kind of music from it.
Not to mention unknown artists that i liked very much: S. Kaliwalia, Orient Expressions, Bollywood Breaks (fantastic Bollywood track!)
14 more or less excellent tracks makes it a very good album.

This is also the only Asian music album that I have bought from Estonia. It's sad that there aren't yet too many Asian artists sold here. I hope to promote the music more here and let's hope, things will change. Kurma Das already started promoting the music with his set at the Party Of Love in the middle of August in Tartu, Estonia.

Nitin Sawhney "Beyond Skin" (1999)

2008-07-30T23:50:00.001+02:00

Nitin Sawhney's already nine years old album "Beyond Skin" should have been one of the first overviwed albums in this blog. I've been enjoying music from it for 2-3 years and it still touches me deeply. It's a very strong album and not only because it talks with the listener about nuclear tests. You cannot sell your thoughts on album without great music, I believe. This time, Nitin Sawhney hit the jackpot! N.S. says about the album that he put together music styles that has influenced him most. This is the strongest point of the album - so many strong and different tracks that this album never bores anyone.
"Beyond Skin'i" first track Broken Skin starts with a speach from Indian prime minister Vajpayee, who says that India made three underground nuclear tests. Second track Letting Go has also very nice female vocal in it and also the message - Don't be a afraid of letting go! As I've sayd before, I like very much songs that has got a message in it. Besides music, it's good to have very good lyrics. The real hit of the album is Homelands. Tabladrums sounds very nicely mixed with a violin and a male vocal. It's a pity that I don't understand a word he's singing.

Fifth track , Tides, is all about jazz music. Like it! Not a big fan of jazz mostly, but this track suits onto the album very well!
Sixth track Nadia is excellent! Breakbeat with an angel-like vocal Reena Bhardwaj. This is just amazing! Definitely click on the name of the track to listen them performing live! Of course the sound is not as good as on the disc, but you definitely get an aim of the beauty of the track!

The Album's last track is "Beyond Skin." On this track Dr. Oppenheimer, inventor of a nuclear bomb says "Now I have become death, the destroyer of worlds." This is a sad track indeed. It's Nitin's way to finish the album with this tragic message.

Despite of the sad mood in this album, it's unbelievably good album! One of my firm favourites for sure!

Indian Summer (2005)

2008-07-18T23:55:00.001+02:00

I bought Indian Summer from London. This time I didn't even care about the music as much I cared about the cardboard box that covers the CD's. It's just so beautiful! Simple white box with a very warm, nice picture in the front. Now, after a few months I started listening to the music and found many good club sounds that impressed me much.
Indian Summer is a double CD compilation of Indian music. The music does not always remind Bhangra or Bollywood or some other typical sounds from India, but it's very good. I guess the reason is that the name of the album means two things: second meaning is warm summer days in September.

I have never heard of Orellana, but her? track Silver Dew (Temple Dream Mix) is extremely good trip-hop style music. Definitely something to play at the club and to mix it with some bollywood samples, maybe!? A little bit sad track, because of it's piano sounds, but sad is beautiful, isn't it?
Actually there are only three artists that I knew before listening to the album: Nitin Sawhney, Badmarsh&Shri and Tim Deluxe. So this album is full of fresh tunes. Fourth track called Punjabi Love Affair by Al-pha-X is wild! This is definitely one of the best house tracks with Indian tunes!

Bagstra P's C'est La Vie (Shingin mix) is another nice downtempo track. Great tabla drums in it! Mantra's Monsoon is also worth mentioning from the first CD.

Second CD starts with Nitin Sawhney's excellent Bengali Song. This is the kind of a track that has at least two different tracks in it. At some point it is very nice usual Nitin Sawhney, next few seconds it's all about jazz music and then again it's typical Nitin Sawhney's low tempo music with a great male vocal. Definitely something to listen again and again!

Interesting is that there are two identically same tracks on two different CD's. Which is the correct name for the song? I don't now!This is a major blunder anyways! Bagstra P's C'est La Vie and Cheb Basle's Sweet Dreams are exactly the same tracks! Disappointing!!! The only positive side of this mistake is that this song is actually a very nice one.

This double album is dedicated to Isobel. I think Isobel was disappointed to listen to that album because of that mistake. Otherwise a good compilation of somewhat dreaming sounds. There was something very soft in every track, no energetic tracks this time!

Great video clip

2008-07-12T11:49:00.007+02:00

Blitzkrieg feat Gunjan & Tigerstyle performing together live. Maybe you have already seen it, but it's such a great clip that it's always nice to take a look at it again.
There's also Bobby Friction's interview with the artists at the end.

Indestructible Asian Beats 2 (2003)

2008-06-25T22:08:00.001+02:00

New and established artists have been hand-picked to demonstrate the immense diversity of the scene, with music ranging from Bollywood soundtracks to Bhangra, from Asian chill to Panjabi party music - not to mentioned the politically and musical charged sounds of Asian Dub Foundation given the remix treatment via Japan, and a rare cut from the immensely talented Panjabi MC.

Indestructible Asian Beats 2 is one of the albums I bought from London in October. I haven't written about it before, because I wasn't impressed with the music. Well, I had lots to listen and somehow I left this album aside. This definitely doesn't mean that I still think about it as a bad collection of music.
Relistening my CD's, I found that it's a really good compilation of different Asian music styles. Also, there's artists that I know nothing before and now I feel like buying their album if possible. For example Gubi Sandhu & MC Coppa's Nakhra is excellent track! Alittle bit of reggae rhythm and catchy refrain makes it my new favourite! My second favourite track from this album is Recycler's Sensi & Foxy. It's a great track with very nice samples in it. Interesting is that Recycler is a French duo! There's also many famous and great artists on this album:

Midival Punditz is as good as always. They are represented with Bhangra Fever. Great dnb track! Asian Dub Foundation is also on the disc with P.K.N.B. (Dry & Heavy Connection Dub). This mix by Japanese is great. Jungle-breakbat style suits well to this track. It's something that I would play as a DJ at a party! Swami is as good as always with Mehbooba. Also a party track! Badmarsh & Shri's Get Up is refreshing because of it's funky beats! Fresh beats is also in 66 Meters by Indian Ropeman. It is 9 minutes long track and to be honest, it feels like it's two different tracks in one. Very nice lazy beats, but after previous artists, I'd like to go on with breakbeat or something more suitable for the club dancefloor. Ohterwise, 66 meters is one of my favourites from Indian Ropeman! And don't forget Panjabi MC! Album full of stars!

That's almost about it. I find this album to be very good and I like that it's almost full of great dancefloor tracks. I hope Now I just wait until Swami's album comes out in august. This is going to be album of the year or at least one of them!

Panjabi MC "The Album" (2003)

2008-05-28T20:13:00.001+02:00

There aren't too many Asian-British artists that an average Estonian knows. Talvin Singh performed in Estonia few years ago and some know Nitin Sawhney. Latest star is RJ Productions with his excellent 526.
Panjabi MC is something that almost everybody knows. Mundian To Bach Ke was a real hit in Estonian radio stations and it's one of the rare occasions when Top-40 radio stations played Bhangra music. That's why I think I should have started this blog from Panjabi MC. Well, better late than never, right?

The Album kicks off with Mundian To Bach Ke and continues with Mirza Part 2. MP2 is is a somewhat sad Indian-rap music, which has got beautiful flute sounds. I don't understand a thing the man is singing about , but it doesn't matter, because it's the melody that makes me want to listen to it again. The album continues with Jatt Ho Giya Sharabee and Ghalla Gurian. First of them does not impressme much. Ghalla Gurian opposite to it is a track to listen at home while insence stick is buring and you're enjoying your tea, for example. Great vocal, flute and percussion sounds. A very genlte track indeed!
Sixth track Jogi is also very well known for everybody, just like the first track on the album. Still a very good Asian-British fusion!
Eighth track Challa is nice and slow. A bit like r'n'b and very nice for slow dancing moves. Something for late dancing session at the night club. When I'm going to make my first Asian Underground party, this is the track I would play, also Jogi and for nostalgic moments, Mundian To Bach Ke.

Overall, I like this album and despite of few less interesting sounds, it's a good . Filled with different tracks, so you don't get bored from it. Panjabi MC's album is one of the "must have" albums!

Thank You Asian Melodies

2008-05-24T18:12:00.004+02:00

Thank You Asian Melodies. Because you have saved my life! And I'm not joking and I’m not speaking metaphorically. I just love almost everything that comes from There! From ancient and still elegantly vibrating classical ragas to current desi beats from all over the world, Mumbai, Calcutta, Delhi, Amritsar, London or NY. I must admit that there are many quite bad CDs what is labeled as modern eastern music, but this is the case in every music style. What we can do is to promote good music what makes us feel good and this is what good ancient and modern Asian Melodies makes with me.
I must make my special reverence or puja to many many old and new legends and masters from different musical fields. Many we don’t even know by name, but they are the majority who has transformed and carried old musical knowledge to nowadays. I thank you all. And namely of course from Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Ravi Shankar, Ranajit Sengupta, Lama Gyurme, Bobby&Nihal, Talvin Singh, Navdeep, Nitin Sawhney, Midival Punditz, Gunjan, Swami, Joi and many more great artist who are doing their stuff and last but not least many greetings to those who are still about to be born into this world. Thank you for spreading the music!
This is so great feeling to be driven by pure musical energy that I have overcome my fears and doubts about the blogworld and I have honorably accepted Bobik’s invitation to be part of this great Asian Melodies site. We have been friends for many years and shared some exciting quests for good music. I hope it will continue for a long time and we can do some great gigs in near future!
You will probably hear more about classical and so called world music albums from me than from Bobik, but current trends are always on watch!

Asian Melodies - I see our mutual love & friendship still growing and growing. I must say, I see no boundaries! Let the Asian Melodies spread all over the world.

Kurma Das

Asian Dub Foundation "Community Music" (2000)

2008-05-17T22:19:00.001+02:00

When I started listening to Indian related music I wasn't a big fan of Asian Dub Foundation. Music sounded nice, but I didn't like the vocal part. Now, few years later I find it ok and I like to listen ADF. But just to be sure that I really like this band, I bought older album. Lets see if I still like it after introducing it ;)
Community Music is eight years old album. Filled with juicy rock-tunes made by London based indian background artists and not only by them. It's the kind of music that gets you going. You listen to it and soon you'll be in a dancing mood. It seems they have lots of energy in their songs and it would be nice to see how they perform on live stage.
Their third album starts with rocking breakbeat sounds in Real Great Britain and continues throughout the album. I really don't know how to call this sound, but it consists of electric guitar sounds and breakbeat tempo which is a uniqe way how to make music!? Vocal is really important in their tracks and it feels somehow quite offensive which maybe I didn't like before. But this is of course my problem here.
One of my favorite tracks on this album is Riddim I Like (Youtube link). This is a summer track I say! Just the track I would listen driving a car somewhere in a countryside, relaxed and happy, enjoying summer sun through an open side window. It's not as aggressive as the other tracks, but it's got this funky sound and the change of the tempo and the melody is just the way I like.
Another thing with ADF is their lyrics. A good example from my second favourite track Colour Line:

Racism and imperialism work in tandem
And poverty is their handmaiden

I mean, you can agree or disagree with these words, but the thing is that they don't only sing about "love you babe, kiss me babe, make me wet babe" thing. They have their opinion and it is an important part of their music - their message, their thoughts.

Finally, last track Scaling New Heights is excellent chill music. No vocals, just nice slow beat and some Indian instrument+drums+electronic sounds. Something very appropriate for the last track on this album!

This album is thoroughly very good! Yes, I still like it! It's different, it's groovie, it's powerful and last but not least, makes you want to dance eyes closed and feel the rhythm: )

Bobby Friction & Nihal Present (2004)

2008-04-28T14:05:00.001+02:00

I promised myself - no more collection albums. Yet again I bought this one. Bobby Friction & Nihal's double-album is the thing to buy! Having Asian music show in BBC for more than five years, they know well what's the good stuff that people want to listen! I think I can excuse myself this time ;)

Bobby Friction & Nihal Present... is a two disc collection of finest Asian music from the beginning of this century. The best thing about it is that you can find some artists on every collection. They are the stars of various artists albums, but not on this one. It's full of music that I haven't found anywhere else, but I've heard Bobby and Nihal playing them.

Bobby Friction & Nihal Present... consists of two discs. First is full of different genres, for example Bollywood, Bhangra and Desi tracks. Second disc is for the dancefloor mostly!

First disc starts with bhangra style. It's a bit boring - I didn't find any weak tracks. Most of the tracks are remixed or at least fixed somehow. Some songs I like especially:
Timbaland & Magoo "Cop That Ish" (Mentor Remix feat Juggy D)
Roachkiller "Talkin' " (Pyal Taal Refix)

There's also Bollywoodish tracks like :
Lil Sach Feat Rowdy Brown "Naina"

There is also Jay Sean represented on the disc. This is the first Jay Sean's track I really like. Very nice indeed!
Jay Sean "Who Is Kamaljit"

You can find many rap songs also on this album. For example Bohemia The Punjabi Rapper's "Vich Pardesan De (In The Foreign Land)" is excellent!

Second disc is full of club music. It kicks off with Nitin Sawhney featuring UK Apache "Uzi's Rap." Hardcore dnb track that makes your blood go round in your veins a lot quicker. Swami is known as number 1 British-Asian producer in the world. On this album he is represented with "Desi Rock," which is a great example why he's such a great producer! This disc goes on with even better music. Bikram Singh's track Taakre (Navdeep remix) with Tigerstyle is excellent. It's one of my all-time favourite tracks from Asian music scene! Another top-track is from Oz, Jkeyz & Kinetics feat Carrera, Salman & Hemina "Back To My Other Life." You find this track's youtube "video" below!

These are just a few described artists you can find from the discs. It's one of the best compilation albums out there and if you want to have good music at home, start from this collection! It's worth every penny! Due to it's an old album (2004) I suggest you to look for it from Ebay. They sell older albums for almost nothing.

Banco De Gaia "Igizeh" (2000)

2008-04-24T17:37:00.005+02:00

Banco De Gaia's homepage
Track nr. 6 - "How Much Reality Can You Take" download available here

Banco De Gaia is a man of mystery. He started his music career as a drummer in a heavy metal band. After that moved to Portugal to play Beatles songs for tourists and at the end of eighties he moved to electronic music scene.
Igizeh is full of music that is good to listen as a background music for some activity. I can imagine myself rollerskating at a seaside listening to BDG's music. The thing is that it doesn't impress that much as I thought. I don't say it's a not good. I say it's average. I have to say, I don't remember first track at all. Second track Obsidian is a nice quick track with nice vocal and the best thing is that it makes you want to move yourself a bit. My feet just started dancing : )
Fourth track Glove Puppet is excellent. No Indian style music, but a good and a bit sad song to listen. Vocal is nice.
Gizeh is a dreaming song. Flowing music that gears up at the end. You can feel that there's something coming already. It's got good sound and somehow you can feel yourself inside the track.
A track called How Much Reality Can You Take makes you think why some musicians make so long tracks, when it's not going anywhere. Music just repeats itself after a few seconds. Pointless! It's the kind of music that is ok to listen when you play the chair game, where's always one chair less than the players and when the music stops you have to find a chair or you'll be kicked out. This is just the music that you don't need to repeat it, it does it itself. Good thing is that it's got nice Indian samples, but still, too much repeating!
Fake it Til You Make It is again very slow, but pretty nice track to listen. Not a party track, but an armchair track. Sit, listen and relax. Probably the best track on the album!

It's not actually a bad album at all, but I expected more. More different samples, more diversified tracks. Maybe it's just my taste that is different than the music on that album. I like quick tracks with juicy samples, but BDG's flowing tracks are just too slow to me.

Chill Out Bombay (2001)

2008-03-29T00:03:00.001+01:00

Chill Out Bombay is just another album with various artists. In almost every album like this, you can find a track from Nitin Sawhney and Talvin Singh. Only, this time T. Singh is represented with a remix. After all, this is an average album with a few very nice tracks.

Joi's remix of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's and Michael Brooks track Sweet Pain is a bit long. It gets boring after some time. Second track by Govinda at the same time is so good that I want to listen to it again and again. I think the reason is the voice of the man repeating a phrase and thats just ...it kind of makes you addicted to it, you want to hear it once more. I like it! Third track from Mars Lasar called "Pioneers" is also worth listening. Talvin Singh remix is quite nice, but it has the same problem that Joi remix had - it's just too long.

Water Music records didn't choose the best track from Nitin Sawhney to this album. There's much more greattracks from Nitin and they should have done a better job finding a very good track. "Oceans And Rains" is average in my opinion. Also I don't see a point putting Don Shiva's trance track "Shankara" onto the album. It should be a chill out album, but this track ruins the harmony. Generally i guess it was a good dance music almost 10 years ago, but still not suitable on an album together with Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan for example.
I thought I finish my overview here, because there were many boring tracks after Talvin Singh, but luckily a very nice female vocal save the day. Last track called Ever So Lonely from 92'.

Tracks, why I will keep the album and why it was worth buying:
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan & Michael Brook - Sweet Pain Remix by Joi
Govinda - Sweetly We Touched
Mars Lasar - Pioneers
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan & Michael Brook - My Heart, My Life ERemixed by Talvin Singh
Sheila Chandra - Ever So Lonely/ Eyes/ Ocean

Jakatta's version of "Ever So Lonely"

Sheila Chandras "Ever So Lonely/Eyes/Ocean" is here

Indian Ropeman "Elephant Sound" (1999)

2008-03-21T23:15:00.006+01:00

You can hardly find reviews of this album. It is already nine years old and well...there aren't too many people who's heard about Brighton, UK based Indian Ropeman. I heard it also once from BBC 1,played by Bobby and Nihal. And that was just what I needed to become a small fan of this artist!
Indian Ropeman's second album is full of hip-hop, breakbeat and other funky stiles mixed together. Its like a musical rainbow that covers most of the genres. Elephant Sound is, as I already told you, nine years old by now and it is like with many other Asian fusion artists, that you really cannot make the difference between newly released albums and a bit older ones. It's as one amazon.com reviewer said, it's ageless.
What is that I like about it so much? Hard to say, really! It's different! There's something in these tracks that makes you want to dance. It's not particularly so much of a dance music album, but these groovy styles mixed together makes it an album to have at home. There's great flute and sitar sounds and weird vocals and other Indian instruments that make the tracks exotic and the same time very modern.
Sometimes Asian fusion album is so obviously Indian that the people who listen only to western beats, don't like it. There's too strong Indian influence perhaps. Elephant Sound is opposite example, because in most of the tracks you hear more beats than you think about the instruments you hear in the track. So, I guess, that is one point why I also like it. It is not obsessed with Indian instruments. They are used when necessary. Some artists maybe try too hard putting Indian instruments into the track.

Indian Ropeman - 66 Meters

Another track from this album can be found from YouTube

Beginners Guide To Asian Lounge 3CD (2006)

2008-03-17T23:20:00.005+01:00

Clips of all tracks from the discs

DJ Russ Jones from Future World Funk presents the Beginner’s Guide to Asian Lounge an intoxicating trip through the full spectrum of today’s Asian-influenced productions. Featuring cuts by Asian artists and European producers all influenced by the classic sounds of that unique continent. Experience sitar-heavy chill out vibes to Euro concoctions with a distinct Asian flava, and back on to the freshest and funkiest sounds coming out of Asian clubs today. link

Beginners Guide To Asian Lounge is THE thing to buy! Why? Let me tell you! This is a collection of music that you want to listen after many years. After listening to nowadays Asian fusion best tracks, you find yourself opening one of te three discs of this collection. It's an ageless collection of the best Asian music from 90's and the early years of this decade.

Of course you cannot put all the good stuff from past 10-15 years onto three discs, but there's a lot higher concentration of quality music than you can usually find on collection albums. For example, take a look at the page mentioned above and listen to Jolly Mukherjee, Nitin Sawhney, Badmarsh & Shri, Nicola Conte from disc one. Then take a look at disc two: Punjabi MC, Tim Deluxe, F.S.O.I or Badmarsh & Shri again. Disc three contains also great artists such as Bonobo, Thievery Corporation with Gunjan's beautiful voice, Tabla Beat Science or Mo Magic.

These were only names that a fan of Asian Underground or Asian Fusion music has to know. On this album, there are many artists that names don't tell much about them, but who's music is worth listening over and over again! Find them out yourself. I have done it and I'm really happy with these three discs of music.

The best thing is that this collection is two years old by now and it costs for example in HMV only 8 pounds! Eight punds for three discs is cheap, but the music on it is very, very good.

I have bought many other collections of Asian music, but this is truly the best one!

Jolly Mukherjee "Fusebox" (2000)

2008-02-25T00:49:00.001+01:00

Wikipedia tells us that Jolly Mukherjee is an Indian singer/songwriter. Known as India's King of Strings, Mukherjee specialises in the music of Bollywood, or the Indian film industry.

His already eight years old album called Fusebox found its way to my shelf because I like his Kirwani a lot and thought maybe there's more great tracks on his album.

As some of you might know, Kirwani is a pretty heavy dnb track and I expected to be more tracks like this. Well, I'm not disappointed at all, but this album is more like lounge or chill-out music album. There's lots of nice slow-rhythm tracks that I'd like to listen when I'm burning incence sticks and candles are around etc...One of the tracks for the romantic moment like this is Bhairav which is mixed by Madras Magician. Ammasolo and Puriya Dhanashri are also the kind of music that is good for background.
You can find besides Kirwani some more dnb tracks like Jhinjoti or Sarang. So, I can say that most of the tracks are good for relaxing and they are definitely not dance-tracks. Last song, Khamaj, is a good example.
Jolly Mukherjee's Fusionbox is worth buying if you like very soft dnb (excl. Kirwani) or just something for a background.
Oh, well, I almost forgot that Kirwani itself is a track that even after eight years is worth listening over and over again. Everything else on this album is a bonus!

Listen to music clips online
Listen to Jolly Mukherjee's Kirwani here.

Best of MySpace.com

2008-02-14T16:32:00.015+01:00

MySpace is a great place for music fans. Asian melodies visited Asian artist's pages and here is the list of the artists and tracks that AM liked most. There is a lot more very very good songs, but AM wanted to bring out only one song from each artist to make the list shorter and more readable. Most of the artists named here got much more massive tracks and I hope you agree with me.

A G Dolla - Daydreamer
Anoushka Shankar - Slither
Bikram Singh - Kawan's Other Life
Bombay Dub Orchestra - Compassion Big Chill Version
Cheb I Sabbah - Dil Da Rog Muka Ja Mahi ReMix
Indian Ropeman - The Girl Next Door
Jay Dabhi - World Lai Nagda
Karsh Kale - Beautiful
MIDIval PunditZ - Raanjhan
Navdeep - Sad Song Navdeep Remix
Nitin Sawhney - Breathing Light
Ravaliya - Pacific Swara Step Remix
RJ Productions - 459
Sharmaji - Radha Prepares
Superswamis - John Brown
Swami - Hey, Hey
Tigerstyle - Way I Shine DnB Remix
Transglobal Underground - Emotional Yoyo

Unfinished ritual

2008-01-20T13:49:00.001+01:00

Right now I'm living in Denmark where you cannot go to a shop and ask for Nitin Sawhney for example. Easiest and the only way to buy music here is to do it online.

I choose the album. I pay for it. I wait a little bit. A little bit more. I get e-mail that this item is currently unavailable. I wait and wait and no answer... I still hope that I get what I wanted. This time Karsh Kale's Realize album's mixed tracks by some very nice beatmasters.

You have to be very careful when buying online. It's not as smooth as it seems sometimes. I hope it is just this one time that I have problems, otherwise there will be no trust left and I have to start downloading illegal music...bhhh

Thank you, Jay Dabhi!

2008-01-06T23:04:00.003+01:00

Well, for a month I've been listening to Jay Dabhi's "Mumbay After Dark" and that's because I have the track now! Jay Dabhi wrote me an email and attached this song! I am very very happy to have it now in my computer and I hope to hear more great tracks from him! Thank you Jay!

You can hear Jay Dabhi vs Mixtabishi – ‘World Nai Lagda’ from BBC 1 Bobby Friction and Nihal show until wednesday! It's Bob Sinclair's World Hold On base that is mixed with Indian vocals and sounds. Great club music!
Last show is all about the best tracks from last year. If you like this music, you should definitely listen to Bobby and Nihal!

"The Very Best Of India" (2003)

2007-12-14T01:40:00.001+01:00

"The very best of India" is a journey through Indian Music in all its forms, covering Indian classical and folk music, Bollywood themes and fusions with jazz, pop and contemporary dance music..."

Impressive is that so many famous musicians are on one disc: Talvin Singh, Panjabi MC, Nitin Sawhney, Badmarsh & Shri, Bally Sagoo, Gunjan, Rishi Rich etc. It is really unbelievable collection!
Listen to
Bally Sagoo
Badmarsh & Shri
Monsoon ( I just cannot believe this track to be from 82'. Just listen to it, fantastic!)

and here's Nitin Sawhney's probably most remixed song "Homelands"

I have to say that first album is excellent! I would recommend it to everybody! The only problem is that I almost have half of the songs now on other albums and it seems waste of money.

On the other disc....well....Ananda Shankar's Streets of Calcutta is excellent. It's the kind of music that I would like to play in some cozy underground night club. unfortunately I couldn't find the clip for you to listen.
Well, that's almost about it. Other tracks are slow and not suitable for "feetwhippin" on the dancefloor. Of course some of them are very beautiful, more classical Indi music, but too slow to make your heart bump.

This 2CD collection is suitable for people, who would like to get to know all kinds of Indian style music. First CD is so good that it is worth buying anyways. All great hits in row!

Bally Sagoo tries acting

2007-12-08T00:57:00.004+01:00

Bally Sagoo who's "Rising From the East" I told you about few weeks ago has now entered into movie world. He's a starring actor in "Sajna ve Sajana."

There has been thoughts that Bally should stick to music making and remixing, because acting in a Bollywood movie is not his strongest quality.

I actually hope Bally does what he likes most and even when he finds acting the best thing to do, he never leaves music! Just give him a chance to prove himself!

Ravaliya on BBC Asian Network today!

2007-12-07T14:02:00.003+01:00

In the first post of this blog I told you about very good music made by Ravaliya. He's on air today dj'ing on BBC Asian network radio station at 11:45pm GMT. You need Real Player or Windows Media player to listen it live.

I got this information because Ravaliya himself visited this blog few days ago and told me about the show tonight. I have to say I was very surprised that he had time to reply to my post and I'm very very happy about it. He told that his working in the studio right now and let us hope that he will produce more excellent music!

Read Ravaliya's comment to my first post here.

Well, now that the show is over, I can say that I liked it much. Of course I didn't recognize most of the songs, but some my favs were in it like Prodigy, Tarantula?, Mo Magic?, Jay Dabhi, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and many, many others.
Jay Dabhi's "Mumbay After Dark" is one of the best tracks in India house scene. I would very much like to have the single, but I don't know where to get one. That's the worst thing with this music. It's not like Robbie Williams tracks that you can ge from every CD-store.
If you now would like to know how "Mumbai After Dark" sounds like - visit Jay Dabhi's MySpace homepage and click on the track.

P.S. you can listen to Ravaliyas mix again til next friday from here. You jus have to carry on the show 2.45 minutes and then it starts :)

Talvin Singh "Sounz of the Asian Underground" (1997)

2007-12-06T02:03:00.001+01:00

Just you to know what I'm going to talk about, you are most welcome to listen clips from the album.

Wikipedia, has some information about Talvin Singh:

"Singh grew up in Leytonstone and began playing the tabla, breakdancing and listening to punk rock as a child. At the age of 15, Singh went to India where he studied tabla. In spite of this classical training, Singh's tabla playing was not accepted by British promoters of classical Indian music, as he incorporated too strongly his western influences. By the late 1980s, Singh had decided to turn towards the fusion of sounds, and soon he began working as a musician with such artists as Madonna,the Indigo Girls, David Sylvian, Siouxsie & the Banshees, Sun Ra, Björk, Massive Attack and the Future Sound of London.

In late 1995, Singh founded the Anokha night club with promoter Sweety Kapoor at East London's Blue Note, where drum'n'bass DJs and South Asian punk bands went head to head with the amped-up sounds of his tabla and percussion. He worked as a remixer until releasing his solo debut, OK, in 1999."
After OK, Singh released another album called HA and there are rumors that third album called AN is also on its way to the shelfs of the record stores. All these three albums together mean ANOKHA - the club he founded in 1995.

Soundz of the Asian Underground is mostly dnb album. Many Indian new stars are represented on this album such as State of Bengal or Talvin Singh himself. Most of the artist are after 10 years of releasing this album, unknown to me.

About the album: There are some very nice non-dnb tracks like "Mumbai Theme tune" and "Distant God" (sounds like Björk). I have to say that not all tracks are best of the best. Of course it is a matter of taste, but what I'm writing here is my subjective opinion. I hope I don't hurt somebody's feelings saying that for example track called "Equation" by Equal I, is pretty boring. Next track Spiritual Masterkey by Osmani Soundz is excellent tune. Everything is in right place. Dnb rhythm suits well with flute and vocals nad other instruments. I also would like to bring out Jaan by Talvin Singh and Amar; Flight IC408 by State of Bengal and Distant God by Singh and Amar. These are my favourites. Plus Mumbay Theme Tune, which is just so chill, a bit classical, tune.
Conclusion would be that when I'm going to play once all these nice British-Indian fusion tracks in a night club, I pick some songs from this album also. Considering that this album is 10! years old, it's still kickin' and very much my taste!

I couldn't find any dnb songs from youtube. I hope you like this classical sound made by A.R. Rahman.

P.S. Soon I tell you what I think about Talvin Singh's debut album "OK"

Badmarsh & Shri "Signs" (2001)

2007-11-29T02:21:00.002+01:00

Wikipedia tells us about this duo:

Prior to their formation, Badmarsh (whose name means 'rascal' in Hindi) worked at the reggaestudio Easy Street; which was hiring PA equipment to a nightclub called Labyrinth. After a visit to Labyrinth, he became interested in DJing, and almost immediately went out to buy DJ turntables and records; he later secured a residency position at the club, where he remained for five years. Shri, on the other hand, had spent five years touring with Nitin Sawhney, who later produced his debut solo album Drum the Bass. The album was well received in Europe.

The duo came together through Shabs, head of Outcaste Records, who thought that the pair's individually different sounds would complement each other in a group. The duo released their debut album Dancing Drums in 1998, which contained a culmination of drum and bass, hip hop, Indian classical music and jazz.

Two years ago when I started to listen Bobby Friction and Nihal show on BBC 1, the Signs were one of the first albums that I downloaded to my computer. I listened to it often and after almost two years I bought it and I still enjoy the sounds. You ask why do I like the album so much?

Short answer would be: I like the vocals (suits with the music very well), dance rhythm and a bit melancholic flute sounds. I guess it is my peculiarity to like flute in dance track.

Signs is not so much Indian music than just world music. Different music styles mixed together makes it just a very nice album that you can listen in a night club or at home. Signs is the track that many DJ's have played and I think some still play. It just fits to the dancefloor. At the contrary to "Signs" is the last track called Appa. It is definitely my favourite sitar track I have ever listened. So soft and relaxing. Something new and something so familiar. New is the sitar play and the soft sound is familiar from some children's good night songs. Well, I could go to sleep with that song every night. :) I really hope you like it too!
all other songs are somewhere between these too and not only on the tracklist. There is a nice flute song Soaring Beyond and there are lots of drums in Tribal. Also one of the DJ's favourite track is Get Up. It is also on many Indian music compilation albums. I really like all the tracks and I hope I can play them in some party when I return to home from Denmark.

Bamarsh & Shri - Signs No video, but listen to the track. One of my firm favourites!

DJ Cheb I Sabbah "As far As. A DJ Mix" (2003)

2007-11-21T23:01:00.003+01:00

I'm using today Adam Greenberg's review from All Music Guide, because I have to agree with it 100%.

As Far As: A DJ Mix is the first mix-tape from the semi-elusive DJ Cheb I Sabbah. The basic concept is to explore a full range of music from around the world. A basic bit of beat juggling is used for the transitions, but other than that, the music is largely untouched by Sabbah. There are a couple of remixes here, as DJ Cheb retouches bits from new age guru Paul Horn and avant-garde trumpeter (and friend of DJ Cheb's) Don Cherry. Other songs included come from the full circle of the non-Western world. The album starts out on an Asian flavor with Solace, Najma, and the Asian Dub Foundation providing pieces. A Paul Horn tune, and an original work from DJ Cheb, move the album toward a Middle Eastern sound and then into a North African vibe; followed up with pieces from Toires, Natacha Atlas (with an Egyptian ballad); Makale (with some Arabic rap); and Gnawa Impulse; all continuing the North African flavor (an important aspect of Algerian-born DJ Cheb's repertoire). After a piece from Trilok Gurtu makes the transition towards Sub-Saharan Africa; Guinean Sekouba Bambino turns the direction steeply with a collection of South African artists,who round out the African leg of the album's journey. Don Cherry's work pulls the album back toward the subcontinent where it started; and an original from DJ Cheb brings it full circle. Regardless of the country of origin of the various artists, there is an underlying pulse that continues its line throughout the album. It's one of the few places where Gnawa traditional music and free jazz can be united with a dance sensibility. For those looking for the fusion of European dancefloor and world music, this isn't a bad place to start. Worldbeat has always promised a good dance/house source; but few capitalize on it to the degree that DJ Cheb has here.

My comments: Nicest cover! Excellent choice of music. i will listen this CD in 2020 also I guess. One of my firm favorites.
Najma - Miskatonic (one of the Asian tracks on disc)

News: In January 2008 Cheb i Sabbah launches new album called Devotion.

Bally Sagoo "Rising From the East" (1996)

2007-11-10T16:33:00.002+01:00

It is amazing that Bally Sagoo's Rising From the East is already eleven years old. I got it from Denmark for 2£ (you don't get even beer for that money in a local pub) and thought that this has to be something funny and old. Instead of being funny this album kicks with fresh beats.

The thing is that this is really the rising from the east! 11 years ago the west wasn't that aware of Indian music and Bally Sagoo is definitely an artist who demonstrated Indian music to the world through pop-music.

Still, everlasting nice beats are not the only thing about music. In my opinion this album is over average and the more you listen to it, the more you like it. I have heard newer albums from BS also and I have to say that he's doing better music now. Music that I like more ;) Interesting is that he actually sold 1.5 million copies of this album!

Most of the tracks are with nice vocals and has interesting sounds in it. I think Bally Sagoo is flirting pretty much with reggae sounds. Next albums have also touch of Jamaica. This is something new and refreshing. I want to point out Ban Mein Aati Thi, Dil Cheez remix version. I also find very nostalgic to listen Teri Akhiyan track, because it is the only song that has real touch of the nineties. Something that is made with synthesizer piano.

Summary: This is a lot better album than I thought and the fact that Bally Sagoo made this album so many years ago, I can really imagine how nice and new these tracks sounded at this time! Worth of listening and I'm happy to know that Bally continues to make good music!

Listen clips online

One of the best songs from this album - Dil Cheez

Nitin Sawhney "Prophesy" (2001)

2007-11-06T21:23:00.001+01:00

Message: Technology is a drug. We can't get enough of it. We feed it to our kids and watch them grow on a forced diet of desensitization. Switch on the T.V. and someone will tell you 50,000 people died in India. Two seconds later you're watching a comedy. Technology can do that. It gives us simulated realities that make us obvious to the real world. Heroin does the same thing. Basically, we are all addicts - addicted to the comfort and convenience that technology provides - addicted to the notion that progress is directly related to the size of your computer screen. Of course it is. We must be right. We come from the developed world. We're already developed world. We're already developed. Sure. Then again, wealthy kids in America shoot each other. Poor kids in Soweto can't stop smiling. So who's developed? I met an Aborigine in Arnhemland, Australia - his nephews showed me symbols where I saw trees and rainbows through smoked glass. They could see fish through clouded water. I couldn't even see my own reflection. I must have forgotten how. When I look in front of me, I see two paths - spiritual or material. Two worlds - developed or developing. You decide which is which. We're still in the wake of millennium paranoia - earthquakes, floods, end of world scenarios, cult suicides, viral diseases that eat into our computer realities. This is our developed world. Then, as Nelson Mandela says 'We are free to be free' I Guess we make our own prophesies. Nitin Sawhney - March 2001

This is what is written on the inside cover by Nitin Sawhney. I like him. I like what he says and how he sees the world. I like other albums and their idea. Also with other albums, Nitin has a story to tell. For example album called Beyond Skin tells us about nuclear weapons and testing them in India. It is most welcome that artists share their thoughts through music and Nitin Sawhney is doing it especially well. But what about 'Prophesy' ?

cover: Looks really boring to be honest. It's just dull gray.

music: Most of the music is good. I mean, in this blog, I'm not going to review any awful albums, because I try to stay away from them and Nitin Sawhney is one of the greatest in this music. Alas this album is definitely not his best.

Maybe I expected more Indian sounds from it. Don't get it wrong, there are plenty, but also lots of average r'n'b sounds etc.
For example the first song 'Sunset' and second song 'Nothing' are not one of my favorites. By this time I thought that this a very boring CD, but I was wrong and I'm happy to say that.
Third track 'Aquired Dreams' just what I like about Nitin Sawhney. Mixture of modern beats and Indian folk sounds. I like the flute in this track and the voice of the female singer. Also I like when Nitin is flirting with some minimal d'n'b sounds. Listen to the song with headphones and you hear how d'n'b is moving around you. Very nice! I consider it to be a jazz music mostly. I like how he mixes styles together!
While reading others overviews of this album I noticed that I'm not the only one who really don't understand why he had to go to the States to record 2 tracks with Street Guru. His voice doesn't suite to the tracks and it is less than average. In fact - Nitin Sawhney travelled to 17 countries to record this album. I wonder why did he travel so much for this? I cannot get the travelling experience from the album. Sounds like any other good one.
Unfortunately there are about 4 tracks that didn't impress me at all. Others were top quality and I bring out some favourite tracks:
Breathing Light (we are free to be free - Nelson Mandela)Best track, no doubt about that!
Moonrise
Walk away
Prophesy

What do I really think of it then?
Nitin Sawhney with his a bit melanholic music is very nice. I really don't understand the meaning of some tracks on this album, but some really good track compensate this. Not one of his best, but I'm happy to have it.
Nitin Sawhney with Brian Eno "Prophesy." Awsome video!!!

Interview with Nitin Sawhney

2007-11-04T02:15:00.003+01:00

MTV India interviewed Nitin Sawhney. He talks about who he is, what he does and how he discovered music and there are some music clips also. Very nice video indeed!

IndiaRama (2007)

2007-11-01T17:30:00.002+01:00

IndiaRama is a great 3disc selection of Indian downtempo & dance tunes. One of them is a DVD that consists Bollywood music videos.

First CD (Lounge & Zen) is a nice low-tempo music. Probably something that you would like to listen in a nice cafe drinking coffee. I think that there are many great tracks, but not all 15 are my favourites. With compilations it's always like that. Anyways, I'ld like to point out artists that I really liked: Thievery Corporation, John McLaughlin, Bombay Dub Orchestra and artists that I have never before heard of, but I liked: Raghunat Manet, Lata Mangeshkar (first video, but not the same song - a very funny video), Poumi Lescaut, LTJ Experience

Second CD (Dancefloor) is totally different. I mean, the music is faster-tempo and there are some really excellent tracks. This is something that Indian club music fan would definitely like!
I would like to point out the last track on this disc - Jolly Mukherjee & The Madras Cinematic Orchestra - Kirwani (Badmarsh & Shri Mix). I found a clip from YouTube also, but this time it's only sound and no video. Another great track Called Kawan is also in YouTube, but on this album it's DnB remix. These two are my all time favourite club tracks from Indian club music. I guess this is the reason why I payd 17 £ for DCD+DVD compilation. Crazy, but I really wanted to have these two tracks + a lot more great music. For an example Midival Punditz is always great + Panjabi MC, Tigerstyle, Asian Dub Foundation, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Bapi Das Paul. Especially I want bring out Midival Punditz 's Raanhjan!

And the videos on DVD. OMG they are so humorous. Something totally different, but at the same time something so familiar. It means that some moves and screenplay of the videos are from the nineties west music videos. I like these. I am not a fan of Bollywood music, but I like to watch these videos. It is always very nice to discover new things.

Jolly Mukherjee & The Madras Cinematic Orchestra - Kirwani (Badmarsh & Shri Mix)

Summary: There something for everybody. It cost a bit too much, but sometimes you have to buy albums just for 2-3 tracks and afterwards you discover whole lot of new and fantastic songs.

Anoushka Shankar & Karsh Kale "Breathing under water" (2007)

2007-11-01T11:12:00.001+01:00

For a change a new album from Anoushka Shankar and Karsh Kale. One thing you notice about Breathing Under Water is that Shankar was willing to go beyond the confines of classical Indian music (her previous discs contained material written by her father, legendary sitar player Ravi Shankar, who guests on the disc). Kale's sonic textures, which blend Western, Eastern, and electronic influences, are present on virtually every track without overpowering Anoushka's own sitar sound.

One of the best moments on the disc is "Little Glass Folk," an instrumental number with an orchestral arrangement seemingly borrowed from Bach. Also listen to "Easy," a song Anoushka and Kale cowrote with Norah Jones (Anoushka's half sister), who adds her laid-back lead vocal to the tune's already-relaxed feel. If that's not enough, "Sea Dreamer" features the distinctive vocals of Sting. I was expecting more from it.
Who likes Indian folk music, I suggest to listen this album very much. The ones that like more modern-beat Indian music, I say it doesn't have so much hardcore beat in it with some exeptions. To all Norah Jones fans - yes, the track with Norah - a really, really nice, soft and relaxing one.

You can listen some tracks from this album here. Loading takes time, but it's worth it ;)

Karsh Kale's interview for National Geographic

2007-11-01T01:24:00.003+01:00

Thank god for internet and thank you for YouTube.

Here's an interview with mr. Kale. He talks about his musical influences, life and about music itself. it's good to see a man behind the music. Worth of watching!

Bombay Dub Orchestra (2006)

2007-11-01T00:17:00.002+01:00

This is a 2CD album from Bombay Dub Orchestra. Something you call the best thing after the best thing. Why? Well, first of all - CD 1 consists of very very nice tunes from BDO and 2nd - CD 2 has very nice mixes of these songs.

Who are they anyway?

They think about themselves as: "U.K.-based duo of Garry Hughes (Björk, Sly & Robbie) and Andrew T. Mackay (VAST, Annie Leibovitz) . Bombay Dub Orchestra is music that will stroke the senses and enamour the soul, with its uniquely brilliant crossover of orchestral arrangements, modern, lush beats and synthesizers and a heavy slant to the music of India . That territory has been mapped by bands like Röyksopp, Air and Zero 7, but no one had dragged a 28-piece Indian string section into the arena before. And while the name "Bombay Dub Orchestra" conjures up visions of the garish pop of Bollywood's song-and-dance numbers, or the reverb-drenched, proto-psychedelic sounds of Jamaican dub, this music creates and sustains a very different mood." At least this is what they say about themselves on their web-page.

I say, it is a very nice mix of Indian classical music + fantastic indian vocals + fusion sounds. It all makes together something that you can listen on and on again. I'm telling you - this is one of the favorite CD's that I have. I got it from HMV for 7 pounds, but I was ready to pay the real price 13 pounds for that. i got a great deal, eh?

Listen to them at their MySpace homepage!

My critical opinion: I thought that mixed tracks are a bit more different, better, I say. Maybe they are a bit too the same. I hoped that I hear something that I Can really remember.

Overall, I am very much satisfied with BDO. Strongly recommended!

This video is a mix from a BDO's song Mumtaz. Sound is not good at all, sorry for that!

Back In Business

2007-10-10T21:47:00.002+02:00

After almost three months of emtyness in this blog I'm back with lots of new albums that I bought from London last weekend. I'll report soon about the trip and share my emotions that are still inside me from the great trip!

"Joi - One And One Is One" (1999)

2007-07-20T18:34:00.003+02:00

Joi's homepage Joi homepage consists of many audio/video materials - take a look at them!
Joi in Amazon.com Amazon has lots of information about Joi.
Joi in MySpace Music clips and more about Joi - recommended!

It's like taking a nostalgic trip through the visual soundscapes of Bengal . The music is ethereal . With tracks like Joi Bani , Asian Vibes or Heartbeat overlapped with drum loops over Indian tunes and Western electronica - Joi simply proves that in music 'borders do not exist ' .

Joi is the first artist to have an overview in English. Maybe not the best artist around, but certainly something different than most musicians in this blog.

A user from Amazon.com writes about Joi:

I was expecting to hear more Indian music, but what this has is mostly techno & tabla beats, with sparse melodies and harmonies. It really doesn't give me the kind of exotic flavor I am looking for. Also, all the beats on here are up-tempo, and there is very little dynamic in the music. All this adds up to listenable music that gets boring fairly quickly. There may be one or two standout tracks on here, but nothing you can really hang your heart on.

I have to admit that there is much techno sound and less Indian music. Some vocals and tabla drums and basically that's it. I have heard better and worse music. This is something that you have to listen it by your own. I'm not a big fan of this album, but I have listened it enough to have an overview about this artist.

3/5*

Asian Melodies now in English

2007-07-20T18:10:00.002+02:00

This blog here changes its language into English. There are many reasons why "Asian Melodies" is now and in the near future written in English. I have to admit that I'm writing this blog because of this music here - Asian, mostly Indian urban sounds. I like it very much and I want to spread my favourite artists and sounds with my closest friends and people whom I'm not aware of. Most of the readers that come to this blog are from Google search engine, some come from my "Kiirnuudlid" blog also. Point is that writing in English widens the area of people who can understand what I am writing about. Well, I have to admit that my English is not perfect, even not close to it, but I hope that music speaks more than my words. Estonian readers, I hope, understand English also and so I hope that there will be more people reading my blog, more people who like Asian sounds.

My point in this blog is to be the middleman between a good music and the readers of the blog. Mostly I copy overviews from some source if they sound like from my mouth. It is easier, quicker and in better English ;)

Commentaries about this change are welcome.

State of Bengal vs Paban das Paul "Tana Tani" (2004)

2007-06-15T21:18:00.002+02:00

These two WOMAD regulars are arriving from opposite camps, one being electronically geared for the UK dancefloor, the other steeped in ancient folk traditions.

Album review in English
Klipid igast loost siin
State of Bengal MySpace keskkonnas (plaadil mitteesinevad lood)
State of Bengali ametlik kodukas

Lemmiklugu nr. 7 Padma Nodi

Pakistani taustaga Sam Zaman (State of Bengal) kasvas üles Londonis. State of Bengal oli DJ Talvin Singhi ööklubis Anokha, kus tema lend sai hoo sisse. Kaks lugu mahtusid kunagisele Talvin Singhi plaadile Anokha Soundz of the Asian Undeground. Ühel hetkel avastas Björk tema ande ning varsti remiksis SoB Björki loo "Hunter" ning lõi kaasa Björkiga maailmaturneel. Selleks ajaks oli State of Bengal esikalbumiga lagedale tulnud ning tema muusikukarjäär kulges edukalt.

Tana Tani plaadi on ta teinud koos Paban das Pauliga. Paban das Paul annab duole etnomuusikalise külje ning Sam Zaman lisab omalt poolt drummi-bassiliku varjundi. Selline kompott on järjekordselt väga huvitava maitsega!

Varasemad kirjeldatud artistid on olnud kõik rohkem või vähem klubimuusika viljelejad. Mõni on neist aeglasemat beati harrastav, mõni miksib India mussi technoga. Seekordne artistipaar on hoopis midagi muud. Kuigi mõnes loos on drum'n'bassi rütme, on tegemist kokkuvõttes vägagi folkmuusika plaadiga. Õige folk oleks see siis, kui moodne rütm tagant ära võtta, kuid mingisse muusse kategooriasse on seda heli raske sobitada.

Pakistani muusika on pisut teistsugusem kui India. See ei tähenda, et see oleks halvem. Vastupidi. Mulle meeldib väga seda plaati kuulata vahelduseks, kuna das Pauli võimas meesvokaal kõlab keelpillidega väga hästi kokku. Näiteks ei domineeri sel plaadil tablatrummid nagu India muusikat kuulates olema harjunud tajuma.
Välismaised plaadiarvustused kirjeldavad tema häält väga heades toonides, olen nendega sama meelt.

Neile, kes soovivad kuulata klassikalisemat Pakistani muusikat, soovitan seda plaati, kuna mitmed lood on kaasaaegsete rütmideta. Neile, kellele meeldib omapärane Aasia dnb, maksab samuti plaati kuulata. Mõni lugu on selline, mida kuulates nii mõnigi meelerohtude fänn kivistudes lae alla lendlema asub. Viiruk suitsema, küünlad põlema, vaip maha, piip ette ja muusika mängima. Uskuge, see on ekspeditsioon läbi Aasiamaade. See jääb meelde!

P.S. selle plaadi tugevuseks on veel loominguline voolavus. Nii mõnigi artist paneb dnb tausta mängima ja hakkab siis sellele meloodiat peale arendama. Siin võtab lugu tuurid üles alles loo keskel või lõpus luues selleks hetkeks sobiva tuju ja hingestatuse.

P.S. 2 MySpace keskkonnas esindatud SoB lood pole suurem asi. Das Pauli etnoboonuseta ei raba mind SoB muusika eriti. Maitse asi. Kuulata maksab kindlasti!

SuperSwamis is SuperGood!

2007-05-07T23:06:00.005+02:00

I suggest you to listen SuperSwamises's track Valentine Curve.You can listen it at MySpace.com Take 3 minutes from your busy day and listen to it!

Midival Punditz "Midival Times" (2005)

2007-04-02T10:57:00.002+02:00

Kuula albumi klippe online

Midival Punditz koosneb kahest Delhist pärit produtsendist, artistist Gaurav Raina'st ja Tapan Raj'st. MP muusika koosneb enamasti jungle, bhangra, Põhja-India klassikalisest ja elektroonilisest muusikast. Nii nagu teiste India muusikat tegevate artistide tööriistakasti, kuulub ka MP omasse sitar, bansuri, dhol, tumbi ja sarangi - Klassikalised India muusikariistad.

Midival Punditzi "Midival Times'i" plaadiümbris on kaunis. Kolmeosalisest papist ümbris on rõõmsameelne ja sobib muusikaga hästi kokku. Nüüd, mil toodetakse erinevatest materjalidest plaadiümbriseid, on hea tõdeda, et paljud on loobunud igavast plastmasskarbist.

Muusika on plaadil veelgi parem. Ma ei mõista, miks ma sellest kogumikust varem pole kirjutanud. Nüüd on hea vabandus varnast võtta - plaati käte vahel hoides on sellest palju mugavam kirjutada. Mõistan, et mp3 kogumikku on netist odavam osta ja pleierisse mängima panna, kuid ma olen pisut konservatiivsem ja soovin plaati ise käte vahel hoida - näha kunsti, mis ümbritseb seda muusikat!

Igatahes on tegemist VÄGA hea muusikaga. Tundub, et ma kiidan neid artiste iga kord siin taevani, kuid raske on neid laita, kui tegemist on enamasti lemmikartistidega Aasia muusika vallas. Järgmine kord kirjutan Jaapani popist ;) Niisiis, "Midival Times," üllatab Euroopa-pärase pop-muusika taustaga. Selle peale on ehitatud elektrooniline maisnavärk ja seda on omakorda ülistatud kohalike rahvapillidega. Diskorütmid pole siiski igas muusikas.

Huvitav, kuidas plaat algab aeglase ja voolava klassikalisema India muusika poole kalduva helidega, sekka näpuga ehedat viiulikontserti! Neljandaks looks on hoog sisse saadud ja see on esimene tõsine kiirema rütmiga lugu, mis paneb ka flegmaatikul jala tatsuma. Rütm on tõeliselt hea! Albumi neljas lugu kannab pealkirja 136.
Viies lugu on järjekordselt rahulik ja vaikne klassikalisem India pala. Palju on kasutatud sitari heli väänavaid meloodiaid. Kuues lugu kogu jälle hoogu ja meesvokaalile on lisaks toodud sisse kerge breakbeadi rütm. Seitsmes lugu Piya on selline, mille kõlamise ajal läheb meelest, et ma seda plaati kuulan. Pisut tühi tunne tekib. Kaheksas, Kesariya" kisub jälle kuulama.
Üheksas rada "Midival Times'i" plaadil on selle kogumiku pärl. Uskuge mind, vokaal, refrään ja rütmid jäävad teid kummitama mitmeks päevaks! Ali loos laulab Kailash Kher'i meeshääl küll täpselt ei tea millest, kuid refräänis on aru saada, kuidas ta korrutab Ali nime mitmeid kordi ühte jutti. Uskuge mind, see on kaunis! Kindlasti kuulake seda lugu online üleval antud lingile klikates. See on seda väärt! Mulle meeldib, kui lugu kogub vaikselt tuure ja siis üks hetk tekib selline teatav plahvatus. Selle loo ajal jõuate kindlasti nirvaanasse!

Järgmised lood jätkuvad mõnusa Indiapärase muusikaga. Rohkem on esiletõstetud Euroopalikumat elektrikitarri ja tehnorütme, kuid sellest te end juba häirida ei lase. See on kaunis!

Viimane lugu on jällegi selline tüüpiliselt mahe ja rahulik. Kerge rütmiga loos laulab naishääl ning vahelduseks kõlab eriti rahustav flöödimäng. Väga kerge ja mõnus pala! Miks küll eurooplased sellist muusikat ei viljele?

Ansambli liikmed ütlevad, et see plaat on reis, milles nad osalesid eelmise plaadi tegemisest selle plaadi valmimiseni. Neil on õigus - plaadi ebaühtlane tempo ja erinevad muusikariistad muudavad selle reisiks. Seda plaati julgen kindlasti soovitada!

Edit: Video of my favourite song from this album: Ali

Talvin Singh performed in Estonia

2007-03-29T22:29:00.002+02:00

I just found out that Talvin Singh visited Estonia in 2005. It's pretty sad to hear that actually. In 2005 I was listening to The Doors, Coldplay, Ozzy Osbourne and David Bowie. I was never heard of Talvin at this time. I hope next time some great artist visits Estonia, I will know about this : )

Prem Joshua & Chintan "Ahir" (2006)

2007-03-28T21:25:00.002+02:00

Kuula "Ahir'i" internetis: "Ahir"

Seekordse ülevaate annan plaadist, mida hoian praegugi käte vahel - imetlen kena plaadiümbrist, selle nimeks on "Ahir." Kogumiku üks autor Prem Joshua on andekas flöödimängija, kes on pärit lähemalt, kui muusika järgi arvata oskaks - Saksamaalt. Puberteedi eas Oriendi muusikaga tutvust teinud Joshua oli sellest lummatud. Pisut vanemas eas reisis Joshua Kreekast Pakistani mööda teele jäävaid maid ning kuulis ja kuulas palju kohaliku folk-muusikat. Neid mõjutusi on kuulda ka "Ahir'i" nimelisel plaadil. Reisilt kaasa ostetud soodne "sitar'i" nimeline pill sai tema põhiliseks instrumendiks.

"Ahir" on hea pehme oriendi muusikaga plaat. Erinevus eelnevatest ülevaate saanud artistidest on tema "taustapõrinas." Kui Nitin Sawhney ja Karsh Kale kasutavad tihti breakbeati ja/või trummi ja bassi põhja, siis Prem Joshua esimesel lool on kerge diskotümps taustaks. Uskumatu, kuid selline kerge mõnus trummirütm kõlab väga hästi. Muusikakooslus on väga hea! Teine lugu, Rahir on juba pisut rahulikum. Kuigi loos kasutatakse tabla nimelisi trumme, on siiski tegemist rahuliku looga. Võib-olla on see minu kogenematuse tõttu tekkinud kiiks, kuid tabla trumme kasutatakse tihti hoogsamates lugudes. See, nagu varem maininud olen, pole mulle nii hästi sobinud, kui rahulikum tablapõrin, mis ei häiri mind üldse. "Ahir'i" iseloomustabki instrumentide omavaheline kokkusobivus, mis tekitab tunde, et kasutuses on palju erinevaid pille, kuigi enamasti luuakse heli viiuli, tabla, kitarri, bassi, bambuseflöödi abil.

Plaadi nimiloos on kasutusel mõnusalt pehme häälega naisvokaal Sumitra Guha. Tundub, et üks lemmikinstrumente oriendi muusikas ongi erinevad vokaalid ning sitar. Flöödi ja viiuli kasutamine idamaises muusikas on samuti kaunis. Breakbeadi põhjad lugudel pole midagi uut, kuid enamasti sobivad need suurepäraselt idamaiste pillidega kokku. Ahiri nimelise loo puhul ei ole ma üldse kindel, kas see on mu lemmik. Võiks ehk ennatlikult järeldada, et plaadi nimilugu on midagi suursugust. Ehk arvan valesti. Sumitra Guha pehmest naishäälest meeldib mulle palju rohkem Prem Joshua pisut kähisev hääl - loob huvitava koosluse ülejäänud instrumentidega.
Kogumiku viimane, seitsmes lugu, "The Subject Tonight Is Love," algab puhta tablatrummide löökidega. Laisklev ja rahulik rütm kogub vaikselt tuure ning Joshua ise puhub noote bambuseflöödist. Chill lugu sobib plaati lõpetama. See on nii vaikne õrn ja non-kärsitu lugu, et peale loo lõppu võiks tule kustutada ning magama jääda.

Kokkuvõttes ütlen, et Prem Joshua ja Chintani plaat on väärt kuulamist. Peomeeleolu sellest ei saa, kuid otseselt magama ka ei jää. Tegemist on sellise muusikaga, mille kuulamise ajal võiks rahulikult einestada Tsink Plekk Panges või hoopis lugeda raamatut. Kõige parem on muidugi lihtsalt silmad sulgeda ning "Ahir" teeb juba oma töö. Tere hommikust!

Järgmine kord annan ülevaate Midival Punditzi "Midival Times" nimelisest plaadist. Praegu ootab see kilesse pakituna oma järge.

Karsh Kale "Liberation" (2003)

2007-03-13T11:36:00.001+01:00

Kuula Karsh Kale loomingut MySpace keskkonnas
Kuula "Liberation" plaadi lugude klippe online

Karsh Kale "Liberation" (2003)
Karsh Kale on New Yorgis sündinud India taustaga produtsent/muusik, kellele meeldib India muusikat miksida kaasaegsete rütmidega. Seetõttu on ka tema valikus tihtipeale Indiapärased muusikariistad, nais/meesvokaal ja muusika põhjaks tehno või trumm ja bassi rütmid.

"Liberationi" esimene ja plaadi nimilugu ongi üks sellistest, kus nais- ja meesvokaal laulab india keeles, taustaks indiapärased muusikahelid ja lugu domineerib breakbeat ja suti rokilik muusika. Raske on kirjeldada sellist rütmidekompotti, kuid tulemus on nauditav!
Kogumiku järgmised lood on vahelduvalt meloodilisemad ja pehmemad. Näiteks 7. lugu "Letting Go" on pehme dn'b, mida kuulaks hea meelega mitu korda jutti, sest see on nii hea taustalugu, mis oma õrnade trummilöökide, indiakeelse vokaali ja flöödimuusikaga viib mõtted kuhugi kaugele eemale ja võib juhtuda, et lugu ise jääb tähelepanuta.
Rada number neli "Milan" on see-eest korraliku Indiapärase trummi ja bassi muusikaga vürtsitatud. Lisaks võib kuulda tervet orkestrit sekundeerimas. Väga hea orkestri ja dnb muusika segunemine!
Kahtlemata on see plaat üks mu suuri lemmikuid. Tihtipeale on dnb kuiv tampimine, mis ühel hetkel hakkab väsitama. Karsh Kale rütmid on nii mitmekülgsed, et mingit tüdinemist pole siiani tekkinud. Tegemist on väga sisuka klassikalise India muusika segamisega Lääne modernsete rütmidega.

Kui võrrelda Karsh Kale'd eelmises postituses kirjeldatud Nitin Sawhney'ga, siis on neil palju sarnasusi, kuid Karsh Kale lugudes on India mõjutusi mitmeid kordi rohkem tunda. Nitin Sawhney puhul on tunda India tausta küll, kuid "Philtre" plaat on tõenäoliselt mõeldud rohkem laiematele Lääne massidele, mis konkureerib kohalike softima muusika tegijatega.

Here is the live video of MILAN. Just look at that performance by Karsh Kale!!!

Ravaliya @ MySpace.com

2007-03-03T11:13:00.001+01:00

I guess you have no idea what I think under these two words - asian melodies. I try to explain it now and in the future by the music I describe here.
First I would like to bring out the music master called RAVALIYA (Known before as Dj Buj), who's 4 music clips you can listen without downloading them in MySpace. I hope you enjoy it and you get a little idea what I mean under "asian melodies" music now.
Listen to the clips:
Ravalyia's home page @ MySpace.com

I heared Ravaliya first time in autumn 2006 at BBC 1 Bobby Friction & Nihal show. First impression was awesome! I was listening to the track "Line of control" over and over again and yet I listen it again after time to time. It's a very nice breakbeat, I think, mixed with nice traditional indian music instruments and vocal samples. As Far as I know Ravaliya hasn't recorded a single so far and is just DJ'ing around, that's why you cannot find his music from the shops. I hope that we can have an album of him soon because I want to share beautiful music with everybody.