CD Review: Pooja Goswami Pavan's 'How Shall I Say?'

Pooja Goswami Pavan
How Shall I Say?
Innova

A prominent educator, composer, and scholar of Hindustani classical music in Minnesota, USA, Pooja Goswami Pavan present us with seven long vocal tracks. Each track is rich with North Indian classical influences and instrumentation that includes tabla, harmonium, sarangi, and tanpura. The strings are dreamy, trance-inducing, and highly-textured. The vocals reverberate with classical veins and a commanding voice. The tabla blurts out thuds that are fast and precise. The droning harmonium and sarangi fill in the melodies with a brighter tone overall. The vocals nor instrumentation are particularly catchy, but that is not the point of Hindustani music. The music should be enjoyed for its arrangements, vocals, and sounds that represent hundreds of years of practice and performance. The album runs over one-hour, which is perfect for anyone trying to immerse oneself in Hindustani musical culture. Give yourself a dose of Hindustani reality with Dr. Pooja Goswami Pavan's How Shall I Say?. ~ Matthew Forss 

CD Review: Various Artists' 'The Mountain Music Project: A Musical Odyssey from Appalachia to Himalaya'

Various Artists
The Mountain Music Project: A Musical Odyssey from Appalachia to Himalaya
Self-Release

The Mountain Music Project... successfully attempts to bridge two distinct cultures--Appalachia and Himalaya--together, despite the seemingly distinct cultural attributes of both cultures. The folk and string traditions of Appalachia are not particularly different from that of the Himalayas. The Appalachian side is represented by Grammy Award-winning Tim O'Brien and Curtis Burch. In addition, Tara Linhardt, Tony Trischka, Abigail Washburn, Mark Schatz, Riley Baugus, Aaron Olwell, Matthew Olwell, and Paul Brown round out the Appalachian repertoire. On the Himalayan side, Buddhiman Gandharba, Manjo Gandharba, Jagat B. Gandharba, Ganesh Gandhari represent folk musicians proficient on the madal, sarangi, arbaj, and bansuri flute. Some of the Nepalese instruments are joined with the guitar, banjo, mandolin, mandola, and Irish flute. ~ Matthew Forss 

CD Review: World Jazz from the Matt Geraghty Project

Matt Geraghty Project

Departures

Omnilingual Records

Acoustic and electric bassman, Matt Geraghty, entices listener's ears to come closer and never look back. The smooth jazz idiom and world jazz components are quite clear. Matt's incorporation of a slew of instruments including the sarangi, trumpet, drums, piano, accordion, guitar, cumbus, oud, rhodes, and others, make Departures sound like a world-class journey through Latin America, Europe, South Asia, and everywhere else for that matter. The Polish language lyrics by Anna Maria Jopek add a touch of nostalgic splendor best-suited for a high-end, lounge club. Thankfully, Departures is only a download or CD-away from stirring the mind and soul of anyone who listens to the music. The Matt Geraghty Project features scattered vocals, Weather Channel Local Forecast-type melodies (this is a plus here), and a global mix of influences that are not too overt. Departures is perfect for those airport delays or the comfort of one's sunlit patio. ~ Matthew Forss

CD Review: Sacred Music of India

Various Artists
Sacred Music of India
Silk Road Communications

This recording is a collection of live performances recorded during the Global Event of the World Festival of Sacred Music in Bangalore, India from April 9-16, 2000. The event was organized by Tibet House, Cultural Center of H.H. the Dalai Lama. In fact, a short foreword and speech by H.H. the Dalai Lama is included in the liner notes. Unfortunately, the speech is not on the CD. Yet, nearly 50 pages of text accompanies the CD in an attractively-illustrated, hardbound package. 12 tracks feature contemporary and traditional instrumental and vocal music from Sri Lanka in the South to Tibet in the North. The usual instrumentation of Indian music is present, including, tabla, tala, harmonium, sarangi, dholak, ektara, flute, and more. All liner notes are in English. The vocals are superb and very lively at various points. If you want to experience a live recording of the best sacred music from india, then sit back and enjoy the engaging melodies traditional Indian music. ~ Matthew Forss