Muzikifan,
CD Review
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This album is a sonic trip to India, down paths trodden by Cheb i Sabbah, Gaudi, Adrian Sherwood and others. Taking traditional music performed live, Selekta then adds synthesizer washes and studio dub effects to make the music more palatable to the young clubbers that constitute his audience. Like a real trip, there are high and low points. The first track is instrumental with bansuri (bamboo flute) and sarangi (Punjabi fiddle) dueting. Then we get to a song "Awake," that is very derivative of Massive Attack. It's pleasant and polished but clearly the work of a beginner. Track three "The Escapist," however, with the bansuri and sarangi again, really cuts up the rug. Selekta stays with Indian currents for another four minutes of chilling called "Reborn," then crashes into Kingston with a tribute to King Tubby that has a buried flute, but mostly plays on Channel One & Black Ark tropes. The next cut continues the side trip to Jamaica, with tabla on effects, and the dub is more promising as what sounds like a ney solos on reverb turned past 10. When the harmonium enters Selekta has successfully made the transition back to India, still floating on the reverb loop. Sukhawat Ali Khan, who sang earlier, returns for three more songs that are closer to the Gaudi-meets-Nusrat sound of Dub Qawali. The main difference is Selekta's synthesizer is more heavy-handed & it tends to overwhelm the vocals. The 11th track is a pleasant coda to the album, but then there are 4 bonus cuts. Karsh Kale's remix of "Awake" is very busy; in fact the four bonus tracks seem a bit overdone. But you be the judge, you can always edit them out. 07/11/10
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