indian music

I dont have any Indian music other than a bit of Talvin Singh and Nitin Sawhney, both of which are more fusion.

Any reccomendations for someone wanting to hear some great Tabla (in partucular?), and indian music in general?

Also interested in any other interesting albums of percussion music from around the world you may think are great.

Time to expand a few horizons!

 

NB

Just spent about 1/2 an hour listening to music samples on Amazon.

I could only really find 2 camps..

1) Indian/Dance hybrids - like chillout or Drum and Bass with indian accents.
2) Traditional Indian music including the vocals, flutes, yips etc.

Definately not after the first, and the second sounded a bit like an indian restaurant - not so keen on the vocals, more the tablas and instruments.

Can anyone help?

 

Check out some Zakir Hussain and some Vilyat Khan. Then get over to PFM and page Dev B (aka Dark Lord), he knows this stuff very well.

-- Ian

 

give me a day or 2 and i'll send ya a little something that fell out the back of the mixing desk

 

try this - http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000009CIO/pd_ka_0/202-9903452-4262213

don't suppose it what you are after as it originates from native american indians...but class all the same...

 

I really recommend you check out the Master Musicians of Jajouka from Morocco - local equivalent of the tabla, but a rougher, rawer sound than Indian ragas. the disc below was produced by Talvin Singh and can sound fantastic on the right system (the wind instruments can also bring the blood spurting from your ears on the wrong one)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos...893/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/026-5643540-2978065

 

thanks all.

listened to a lot more music clips now.
Zakir Hussain is clearly a great tabla player. Its a shame his album with John Mclaughlin doesnt have MP3 clips to listen to, I was really interesting in hearing what they managed to get up to.
Less into the Vilyat Khan. Thats because Im less flutey than I am tabla-ey.

Midlifecrisis - I saw the album you mentioned on Amazon used for 4 quid. It was so cheap I bought it.

Mr cat - thanks for reccomendation. the album is a bit too fusion/dance for what Im looking for at the minute.

Thanks again
Chris

 

Flutes? He's a sitar player. Usually appears in the classic sitar/tabla duo setup.

The main HMV on Oxford St has a decent selection of Indian classical in the world music section in the basement. If you avoid anything fusion, it's seems, from my experience, that even buying stuff at random generally gives good results.

-- Ian

 

Mohamed Bangoura

"Maitre-Djembe" Mohammed Bangoura's album Guinee: Percussions et Chants Baga.
If you want to show you new speakers off, this is an album you will be wanting (it is also very well recorded by a certain Jean-Claude Reynaud). There are other albums, which are better IMHO, but for explosive, dense, high power percussion, this is the album.



Mohamed Bangoura

Warning: Despite being tailor-made for "les blancs", this is is quite a long way from what you may be used to...

 

Les Tambours de Brazza

This is a fusion album, but it's a fusion album a little unlike most of the others...
Les Tambours (formerly based in Belgium until they got kicked out of the EU) mix Rap, roots Djembe, jazz traps and superb harmony vocals for what they call Griot Rap.



Ahaando

I like this album more than when I first found it a few years ago. It has grown on me, and the impact doesn't wear off.

 

cool. thanks Les

 

if it's turned up yet, interested to hear what you made of it.. I spent a year in North Africa in my student days but at the time hated the music - oddly it was only after I got back that I started appreciating it, and now I have quite a lot of Arabic music of one style or another.

 

ravi shanker?

http://www.ravishankar.org/

the mans a legend.

 

There are many types of South Indian music that is by and large ignored by the West. Karnatak music for example and instruments like Tambooram and Mridangam.

These music forms go back way before the Aryan invasion of the sub-continent.

 

tell us more bluemax!

nb its not turned up yet midlifecrisis. A couple more days, and its time to cancel the order..

 

The man that both Nitin and Talvin learnt from was Trilok Gurtu. He doesn't have a website but if you google him you'll see his pedigree.

 

I think it's fair to say that North Indian music has received more attention than the southern Carnatic music, in the West at least. I've only managed 3 or 4 albums so far, excluding some pieces of temple music, of Southern Indian music.
Carnatic music has (in my sadly limited experience) a slightly more basic rhythmic pattern than Northern music, but it more than makes up for this in terms of fluidity of line and invention.
The Ramnad Krishnan albums, particuarly "Kaccheri" in the Nonesuch Explorer series are well worth searching out and are easy to get hold of. I operate a similar policy to Sideshow: I buy on sight more or less any Indian classical/folk music I come across, especially on vinyl (top Nonesuch tip: any record with the name "David Lewiston" somewhere in the credits is worth buying).
I think that very often very differnt names are given to what are actually only subtly different (to these untrained ears) instruments. Hence we have the Veena, Sarod, Mridangam, Tambura etc which all, I think, there are versions of elsewhere.

Careful there, you are implying replacement, which is, I believe, very demode at the moment

 

Although not a big fan of Indian music myself I think this link to the advanced search facility of the Smithsonian Folkways collection might be of intrest. The collection concentrates mostly on music from the USA but historical collections from most other countries are also held (South Indian Ragas - Gayathri Rajapur). Searching by Country or Genre might allow you to discover something from another patr of the world that will have you reaching for your credit card. Sorry I can't offer more to this thread.

PS sternsmusic often a good place to look as they have lots from most countries.

 

chris

did you get any cd's?

if not i can email u a few mp3's got quite a few tabla cd's and other cd's with different instruments sarangi etc. lot of classical indian music.....

let me know

G

 

http://www.nonesuch.com/Hi_Band/albums.cfm?album_num=341
Smithsonian are also very good, but are much stronger on Indonesian music.
Try this as well, Inedit is an absolutely superb label:

and here:
Ocora India page
Ocora is quite simply the best label in the world for ethnological recordings. They have something of virtually everything, and usually quite a lot of it, too. Enjoy. Also check out their African and East Asian recordings.