ananda shankar (rare earth XXIV)

ananda shankar - ananda shankar (india, 1970)

For lovers of psychedelic sitars, here is the classic 1970 release by Ananda Shankar (Ravi's nephew). A full rock band backs Ananda, a hip and genuine master of the sitar. Great raga instrumentals, as well as versions of "Jumping Jack Flash" and "Light My Fire" are laced with trippy moogs, effects etc. Easily the best album of it's kind.Sitars and psychedelia,a 1970 cult classic.

Regresan los rare earth tras demasiado tiempo ausentes y con muchos discos en borradores, para continuar en la India. El sobrino de Ravi Shankar grabó durante finales de los 60 y principios de los 70 un puñado de discos tan oscuros como notables, poniendo sus miras en los grandes nombres del momento pero al cobijo de la influencia musical con la que había crecido. El mejor ejemplo quizá sea este homónimo álbum, infecciosos y mágicos ragas de etnic-psychedelic, de los que emanan libres sitares, moogs y más y más efectos. No hay palabras para la versión de "Jumping Jack Flash" convertido en un himno del raga-rock. Sirva además este rare earth como antesala a un preferido, el turco Mustafa Özkent y su inencontrable Genclikle Elele, quien también circula por las latitudes del eastern-rock que mira hacia occidente.

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harappian night recordings

harappian night recordings - the glorious gongs of hainuwele (bo'weavil, 2009)

Upon hearing Harappian Night Recordings it is common for people to assume that it is a collage of field-recordings from a varied cast of inhabitants from the non-industrialised parts of the world. Such is the rich depth, vitality and authenticity of the recordings. The music and sounds however are created entirely by one man, Dr Syed Kamran Ali. He has such an instinctive feel for putting seemingly incongruous sounds together and such audacious irreverence in utilising any instrument or object from around the globe he can lay his hands on that what he creates is unique. The real miracle however is that his attention-defecit scatter-gun one-take approach so often works. It’s an anarchic buzz of ideas constantly usurping each other. Duelling ouds, whirling mizmars, screeching jouhikkos, tapping finger harps, rumbling monosynths, groaning harmoniums, a fist full of khene, talking gamelan lila derdeba popping giving a bent backed Dante's ring hell or like an Egyptian civilian army shitting on Eden's skull, or a Cuban guerilla force stepping on Eisenhower's throat emptying their glorious bladders on his face. And you can dance to it, Tuareg style.
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Sounding not unlike a Sublime Frequencies release from some obscure South Pacific Isle, the mysterious Harappian Night Recordings is in fact the handiwork of just one man, Dr Syed Kamran Ali, who throws together a host of different instruments from various cultures to the effect of creating a kind of hybrid polyethnic sound incorporating ouds, jouhikkos, thumb pianos, synthesizers, mizmars and gamelan noises. Boomkat

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