Will You (A collaboration):
The words of Jalal ad-Din Muhammad
Rumi do not simply ring true across
time. They invigorate each reader
with renewed meaning, purpose
and ultimately liberation. When his
immortal understanding of the human
experience is embraced by a striking,
ensemble, Will You is born. Among
these musical admirers of Rumi are
Iranian-American vocalist Katayoun
Goudarzi, , sitar player Shujaat
Khan, saxophonist Tim Ries (whose
work includes playing with Jack
DeJohnette and Donald Byrd, The
Rolling Stones, Donald Fagen, and Rod
Stewart), pianist Kevin Hays, and tabla
player Dibyarka Chatterjee. Their skills
in combination have inevitably unlocked
new facets of Rumi’s enlightening words.
“Don’t” offers a heartrending plea to
relieve a woman’s lover of his torment.
Goudarzi sings it with an ardour that
would not be out of place in the tales of
Laila-Majnu or Heer-Ranjha. Rumi’s
love poetry has often epitomised the
lover as the universal (or God), and the
shuddering arrangements of strings and
percussion leaves no stone unturned to
exalt the words accordingly. Goudarzi’s
voice is exceptional: she communicates
devotion, passion and agony and just
as easily switches to bliss with “Let
Me”. Each instrument responds like a
deprived lover to the next; the vocals are
the prayer while the music serves as a
conduit to all that is divine and worth
loving.
The album is magnificent beyond
description. It deserves every purchase,
it deserves to be replayed and it will do
nothing short to embedding itself into
the heart, conquering it and goading
it into a mad dance of ecstasy and loss
until all is stilled. I promise you, you do
not need to know the language (Persian
poetry) to be elevated. If you do, it would
probably help. But if you don’t, nothing
is hindered. Go forth and ascend.
Monica Dogra (Naraye Mastana) :
Monica Dogra’s recognizable aesthetic of poetry-passion-
pathology disappoints in her adaptation of ‘Naraye
Mastana’. The usually stunning songstress turns a Sufi
gem by Abida Parveen into something that claims to be a
“club banger”. While it has got a decent beat, the song does
very little to substantiate the ethereal persona with which
Dogra has defined her creed and career. She looks beautiful,
but her equally exquisite voice is lost in the opacity and
some what drab rhythm. One expected more.
Emergence (Can You Record Me?) :
Out of Auroville comes a man who champion sustainable
organic farming, Krishna Mckenzie. He has co-founded
a band with French bassist Mishko M’Ba, drummer
Soundar Rajan and popular city-based Carnatic violinist
Karthick Iyer. And their third EP is a message calling for
renewal, rejuvenation and awareness of the connection that
humanity has with the soil. It’s a message well places in this
environmentally bootstrapped world. Mckenzie’s faith in
the intricate connection between nature and music creates
the sense that their music knows exactly where it belongs.
The song carries itself with determined ease. It does not
dabble in unnecessary complexity and stays on point. The
message is clearly the point of the track. Musically, it is not
too innovative, but the Tamil vocals create an interesting
back-and-forth. It is definitely a good song, and even if for
the message alone, the band deserves wide publicity.
The
Score Magazine
highonscore.com
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