baluji shrivastav & reorient
Another feast from Re-Orient with Baluji Shrivastav, this time featuring as very special guests the legendary musicians Andy Sheppard, Guy Barker and Hossam Ramzy. This album features some of Baluji's longer and more complex pieces plus the usual exotic pieces from the band.


tracks
1.
Blessings
2.
Pharoah's Dream
3.
In Candlelight
4.
The Way I Feel
5.
The Seven Wonders
6.
Taal Manjari - The Flowering of Rhythm
7.
Fruit
8.
Watercolour
9.
Spirit of Joy
realaudio soundclips at amazon.co.uk
 

to buy
£10 inc postage

als available from
amazon.co.uk
instrumentation
Baluji Shrivastav -
sitar, tabla, dilruba, ghatam, pakhavaj, voice, gopi, bulbultarang, swarmandal, keyboard, manjira, ghunguru, bells, samples
Linda Shanovitch -
voice
Chris Conway -
 keyboards, piano, acoustic & electric 9 string guitar, low whistle, voice, shaker
+ guests
.
Hossam Ramzy
darabuka, duff
Andy Sheppard -
soprano saxophone
Guy Barker -
trumpet

downloads
available from
Re-Orient - Baluji Shrivastav & Re-Orient

if you like this album
you might also like

Re-Orient - Seven Steps To The Sun CD
Seven Steps To The Sun

Re-Orient - Indian World Music Fusion CD
Indian World Music Fusion


Jazz Orient - Bird Dancer CD
Jazz Orient - Bird Dancer

more Chris Conway
world fusion & jazz

background
at the time

This album started life as a solo Baluji Shrivastav album. He'd built up soem tracks over time at his home studio including guests Andy Sheppard and Hossam Ramzy. Then the record label decided late in the day to make it another Re-Orient album so Chris Conway came down to a studio in London for a couple of days bringing one piece (The Seven Wonders) and a improvising idea (Watercolour) and adding some music to tracks already recorded. Guy Barker joined at this stage as a guest as well. Linda intriduced a song (Fruit) and they added a tune by Linda & Baluji's daughter Leela.

influences

Jai Uttal, Ila Arun, Flora Purim, Oregon, Indian and Arabic folk musics, Okay Temiz.

technical

recorded digitally at Northolme Studios, Magneto Sound Studios and Premesis Studios, London

hits

In Candlelight

CC's fave track

Watercolour

retrospect

Due to the way the album started out (as a Baluji solo album) there is inevitably less of a band feeling here than on previous Re-Orient albums - CC doesn't appear or hardly appears on 4 tracks. So the result is nether fully a Baluji solo album, nor quite a Re-Orient album. There is much excellent music here though and fans of Baluji's pieces on the other albums will find much here to enjoy. Also it is a pleasure to hear the excellent guests play with Baluji head to head.


reviews
Rootsworld

Sitar and tabla drums are key to most of the music here and thus it's a good thing that Baluji Shrivastav is a whiz on both. He's also skilled on a number of other Indian instruments, and what's more, he's got a knack for combining them with some freewheeling jazz and global textures. The results can sound fairly traditional or, as on this album's "Pharaoh's Dream" and "Taal Manjari- Flowering of Rhythm," get techno enough to show that Shrivastav and his mates in Re-Orient are progressive minded as well. As with much Indian-based music, there is a lot of rhythmic and melodic complexity here. What keeps it from becoming too stuffy and intimidating is the spark and ease with which additions such as Hossam Ramzy's Egyptian percussion and Guy Barker's trumpet are brought on board. Though at times the tracks twist and turn a little too much and overstay their welcome, pieces like the slinky finale "Spirit of Joy" make the trip worthwhile. When you're feeling burnt out on bhangra or Bollywood, give this other kind of Indian fusion a try. It's the work of master musicians and it is fun and engaging. - Tom Orr


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