Smooth pop music from California based Indian-immigrant led band, Young the Giant. A full review of the album is here.
The desi diaspora never ceases to amaze me.
Track Listing:
01. American Bollywood
02. Wake Up
03. Tomorrow
04. Guardian Angel
05. My Way
06. Insomnia
07. Tonight (Harmonium Pick)
08. The Walk Home
09. Dollar Store
10. Cult of Personality
11. I Bite
12. Dancing in the Rain
13. Happy
14. Commotion
15. Otherside
16. Same Folk
Guldasta, meaning bouquet in Urdu, is the solo release of Pakistan’s senior most clarinetist, Ustad Jaffar Hussain Randhawa. It was recorded live, on the rooftop of his house in Shahdara, in Lahore, on a foggy winter afternoon, as he sat with his favourite accompanists under the Alam. He titled the album Guldasta because he imagines it as a bouquet of flowers, mixing up various raags and styles, each flower with its own distinct fragrance.
Jaffar Hussain is Pakistan’s most senior and accomplished Clarinet maestro. He is amongst a handful of people in all of South Asia, carrying on the now rare tradition of playing Hindustani Classical music on the Clarinet, a western instrument not typically heard in performances of Raags and Thumris. Born in to a brass band family, his grandfather founded the Punjab Band in the mid 20th century, and his father continued leading the band, making his name in a time of fierce competition amongst brass bands in Punjab such as the famous Babu Band and the Sohni Band. He himself learnt from Ustad Sohni Khan and was heavily influenced by the great Ustad Sadiq Ali Mando, one of the most well known classical Clarinet players in the sub-continent. What sets Jaffar Hussain apart are his masterful performances of classical forms like Raag, Thumri, and Kafi on the Clarinet, on which he manages to reproduce the melodic ornamentations that are central to this music and simultaneously display a creative rigour with his approach to rhythm (laya) and layakaari (rhythmic interplay).
I posted a few weeks ago an album by Ustadji and in response to a query from a frequent visitor to Harmonium Music, Mr. L, I am pleased to be able to share this recording. While thoroughly Hindustani classical in sound, it is hard not to classify Randhawa’s playing as as much jazz as it is khyal.
Clarinet- Jaffar Hussain Randhawa
Tabla – Riaz Ahmed
Harmonium – Muneer Hussain
Track Listing:
-01. Thumri Pahadi
-02. Raga Sultani
-03. Raga Bjopali
-04. Raga Puriya Dhanashree
-05. Sanwal Mor Muharan
Pre-pandemic I posted an album by the Norwegian Indian violinst and her trio of Nordic jazz players.
Here is another volume of her imaginative work this time with The Bansal Band. On this recording the music is less overtly ‘jazz’ and more ‘fusion’ but on the very positive side of that controversial genre. Instead of a Hammond B3, Bansal includes the humble but glorious harmonium into the mix. Tabla keeps time but double bass and piano balance and bring into relief the fluid, morphing violin of Ms. Bansal, the star.
You don’t get much more blue blood in Indian classical music than this trio. Hidayat Hussain Khan is the youngest son of the man many hold up as the greatest sitar player India has ever produced, Ustad Vilayat Khan. He is also the brother of Shujaat Hussain Khan who is a frequent star of Harmonium.
Indradeep Ghosh is a new generation classical violinist who like Hidayat Hussain Khan, travel the world extensively (Houston Texas has even declared an Indradeep Ghosh Day–October 15, 2017) and often collaborates with non-Indian artists.
Enayat Hossain is a Bangladeshi-American tabla master.
All three princes’ family roots are in Bengal and they are imbued with the incredibly rich culture of that eastern part of the subcontinent.
Please read the bios. They have impressive CVs, all three.
01, Raga Jhinjhoti [Alaap]
02 Raga Jhinjhoti [Gat in Vilambit Teental]
03 Raga Jhinjhoti [Gat in Drut Teental]
04 Dhun [Folk Melody]
Harmonium 