--- joanna bujes <joanna.bujes at ebay.sun.com> wrote:
> Is there anyone on this list that is a connoisseur
> of Indian music...or has
> bought a good album/cd lately?
>
Aww! I know you said no synths, but this is one of the better techno compilations coming out of India would be "Asian Travels"...I accidentially discovered this over Morpheus....
<begin someone elses review> Asian music, particularly the rhythmic allure of Indian songcraft, enchanted such Western artists as the Beatles and Rolling Stones in the late '60s and early '70s, providing a different sensibility at a time when pop music seemed rather repetitive. Similarly in the '90s, Western electronic artists have once again found fertile sonic landscapes in the East, and Asian Travels attempts to chronicle the sowing of Asian music into the club scene. Only now the direction of exchange has changed. Where the Beatles struck out into unfamiliar territory with "Norwegian Wood," most artists featured on this album are Asians transplanted in the West. Through club-worthy anthems, these DJs have discovered ways to infuse their own music with elements from their cultural past.
Fun Da Mental's "Ja Sha Tann" features romping vocals from Nawish Ali Khan, a soothing tabla backbeat, and the drone of the tambura, all set to a raucous hip-hop beat courtesy of Transglobal Underground's remix. Kingsuk Biswas provides a lounge vibe, Bedouin-style, on the watery "Currents," and Asian DJ pioneer Talvin Singh gives Ghazal vocalist Najma a trip-hop workout via his remix of "Ghoom Charakhana." Highlights also include Joi's remix of "Sweet Pain" (a track from Star Rise, the popular collaboration between Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Michael Brook), as well as solid tracks from Fila Brazillia and Banco de Gaia, both Western artists mesmerized by the Asian experience.
While lacking the groundbreaking front-to-back vibrancy of a project like Talvin Singh's Anokha -- perhaps the finest collection of the Asian DJ experience to date -- Asian Travels possesses the subtle yet delicious flavors that can emerge when east meets west.</end someone elses review>
You can hear samples here: http://makeashorterlink.com/?C16941F7
Who knows, you might fall in love with the synth and haunting beats...I love blasting this stuff out of my car....turns a lot of heads.
===== Kevin Dean Buffalo, NY ICQ: 8616001 Buffalo Activist Network http://www.buffaloactivist.net
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