Irene Schweizer - Jazz Meets India

Quite an amazing fusion of indian classical and european free jazz, a live recording from two different dates. Irene Schweizer Trio, Schoof, and Wilen represent the free jazz side of the coin; Dewan Motihar Trio (sitar, tabla, tamboura) are the indian side; the two seemingly incompatible musical traditions mesh seamlessly here.


Irene Schweizer Trio + Dewan Motihar Trio with Manfred Schoof and Barney Wilen - Jazz meets India [1967]
320kbps, 81mb on sharebee
1. Sun Love
2. Yaad
3. Brigach and Ganges

Linkage

Indo-Jazz Top 10 from woebot.com

Illustrations to it and then some.

Bollywood Brass Band - Rahmania: Music of AR Rahman

Another album from the great brass band, here's the first one.
Reviews: one, two.


Bollywood Brass Band - Rahmania: Music of AR Rahman
320kbps on shareonall or megaupload.
01 - Mere Yaara Dildara
02 - Ishq Bina
03 - Main Albeli
04 - Kehta Hai Mera Dil
05 - Urvashi Urvashi
06 - Ramta Jogi
07 - Ishq Bina Ishq Bina
08 - Rangeela Medley
09 - Ek Tu Hi Bharosa
10 - Dola Dola
11 - Injarango
12 - Kismat Se Tum Hum Ko Mile
13 - Ishq Bina Ishq Bina (Groove Road Remix)
14 - Rangeela's Non-Stop Go-Go Lounge (Kamel Nitrate Remix)
15 - Kismat Se Tum Hum Ko Mile (Transglobal Underground Remix)
16 - Rangeela (King Normal Remix)

Doob Doob O'Rama 2: More Filmsongs From Bollywood

By request.

Doob Doob O'Rama 2: More Filmsongs From Bollywood
256kbps, 102mb on megaupload or sendspace
1. S.P. Balasubrahmanyam, Vijayalakshmi Sarma - China Daani Chirunavvulu
2. Geeta Dutt - Mera Naam Chin Chin Chu
3. Sulakshana Pandit, Shailendra Singh, Alka Yagnik, NItin Mukesh - Seth Ke Ghar Mein Aayo Beto
4. Asha Bhosle - Saiyan Re Saiyan
5. Asha Bhosle - Ankhen Meri Maikhana
6. P. Susheela, S.P. Balasubrahmanyam - Gulaabi Puvu
7. Nitnin Mukesh, Sharda - Tum Pyar Se Dekho
8. Kishore Kumar - Ina Mina Dika
9. K.J. Yesudas - Champakapushpa
10. Asha Bhosle, Mohamed Rafi - Gulabi Raat Gulabi
11. Lata Mangeshkar - Sayonara
12. Vanijairam - Thanimayil
13. S. Janaki, Brahmanandan - Ezhupaalam Kadamnu
14. Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar - Dhak Dhak Dhak
15. Manhar, Alka Yagnik, Bhavna Shah - Chandan Ki Chachi Ko
16. Kishore Kumar - Hum The Woh Thi
17. Suman Kalyanpur - Chale Ja Chale Ja
18. Asha Bhosle, R.D. Burman - O Meri Jaan Main Ne Kaha
19. Asha Bhosle - Maine Dil Abhi Diya Nahin
20. P. Susheela, S.P. Balasubrahmanyam - Intinti Ramayanam
21. Chitra - Rajani Parayu

Asha Bhosle with Kronos Quartet - You've Stolen My Heart: Songs from R.D. Burman's Bollywood

The omnipresent and omnivorous Kronos Quartet takes on the music from Bollywood soundtracks, and they recruit the real heavyweight - Asha Bhosle herself, "the most recorded artist in the world". I think she must be over 70 by now.
I cannot say this is a runaway success. The covers here stick pretty close to the originals - a little less of the thundering disco abandon, a bit more of the subtly textured backing... on the other hand, thundering disco is what makes the originals appealing, so I don't know whether it's an improvement. I need a few more spins of this to make up my mind.


Asha Bhosle with Kronos Quartet - You've Stolen My Heart: Songs from R.D. Burman's Bollywood
REUP: 320kbps, 150 mb on 4shared
1. Dum Maro Dum - Take Another Toke
2. Rishte Bante Hain - Relationships Grow Slowly
3. Mehbooba Mehbooba - Beloved, O Beloved
4. Ekta Deshlai Kathi Jwalao - Light a Match
5. Nodir Pare Utthchhe Dhnoa - Smoke Rises across the River
6. Koi Aaya Aane Bhi De - If People Come
7. Mera Kuchh Saaman - Some of My Things
8. Saajan Kahan Jaoongi Main - Beloved, Where Would I Go?
9. Piya Tu Ab To Aaja - Lover, Come to Me Now
10. Dhanno Ki Aankhon - In Dhanno's Eyes
11. Chura Liya Hai Tum Ne - You've Stolen My Heart
12. Saiyan Re Saiyan - My Lover Came Silently

Bhangra Beatz + The Rough Guide To Bhangra

Bhangra started out as a folk dance in the Punjabi region of India. Originally it was performed at a harvest festival celebration, and got its name after one important item that was harvested at the time - bhang. As more and more South Asians moved to UK in the last decades of XXth century, the new transplants began to develop their own pop culture, borrowing the elements of western musical styles such as soul, hip-hop, and R&B, and fusing them with the traditional rhythms and melodies. The new musical hybrid retained the name Bhangra and some of the traditional instruments, especially the dhol drum, responsible for the driving rhythms of the modern bhangra. Other traditional instruments are used too, including single stringed iktar and tumbi, as well as tabla and other percussion. So, light up that bhang and crank it up!


Bhangra Beatz
192 kbps, 82 mb
megaupload
depositfiles
1. Anakhi - Lok Boliyan
2. Jassi Premi - Ludiane Nachdi Nu
3. Balbir Bittu - Soundz from the Des
4. Jazzy B - Lak De Hulareh
5. Balbir Bittu - Meri Maa Boli Punjabi
6. Balwinder Safi - Aaja Billo
7. Sukshinder Shinda - Dhamiwala Da Dhol
8. K.B. & The Gang - Nachde Punjabi
9. Soni - Doli
10. The Sahotas - Sahota Boliyan
11. Bhinda Jatt - Putt Sardaran Da


The Rough Guide To Bhangra
256 kbps, 134 mb
depositfiles
1. Alaap - Bhabiye Ni Bhabiye
2. Rama And Bally Sagoo - Mera Laung Gawacha
3. Bombay Talkie - Chargiye
4. Sangeeta Shankar - Pyar Ka Hai Bairi
5. Malkit Singh - Boliyan
6. Mohinder Kaur Bhamra - Gidda Pao Haan Deo
7. A.S. Kang - Valeti Boliyan
8. Bally Sagoo And Bitti Satwinder - Pendha Gidda
9. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Piya Re Piya Re
10. Baldip Jabble - Janj Mahi Ley Aya
11. The Safri Boys - Par Linghade
12. Saqi - Saqian Da Dhol
13. Labh Janjua And Panjabi Mc - Mundian To Bach Ke

Ananda Shankar - Ananda Shankar + Okko - Sitar and Electronics

Two artifacts of the late 60's sitar craze. The first one is an eponymous album by Ananda Shankar, Ravi's nephew, and a great musician in his own right. Ananda plays a psychedelic/funk/raga fusion. This may sound like a sardines/ice cream fusion, but in fact, Ananda excercises enough taste and restraint to allow the flavors to complement and enrich each other. The result is a head-bobbing, finger-snapping stew of sounds, spiced up by the Rolling Stones' and the Doors' covers, expertly balancing the exotic and the familiar, the traditional and the experimental.
He enjoyed some fame in the US in the late 60s and 70s, and his career picked up again in the 90s, after the exposure his music received on the rare grooves compilations like The Blue Note Breakbeats and Rhino's What It Is. Unfortunately, he passed away in 1999 from heart failure.


Ananda Shankar - Ananda Shankar (Snow Flower), 1970
192 kbps
REUP: megaupload
1. Jumpin' Jack Flash
2. Snow flower
3. Light My Fire
4. Mamata (Affection)
5. Metamorphosis
6. Sagar (The Ocean)
7. Dance Indra
8. Raghupati

Also, get his 1975 LP Ananda Shankar and His Music at the consistently wonderful Lost In Tyme blog.

The other one is an album by a Dutch hippie Okko. This LP is much more obscure, but equally good. As the name suggests, Okko plays sitar and moog over the psychedelic rock backing. There are two Beatles covers (and I should mention that Okko displays none of the Harrison excesses and his music never degrades into the boring Blue Jay Way-like noodling), and the rest are originals that draw on the contemporary psychedelic rock as much as on the Indina tradition. I will speculate that East Indian Traffic is inspired by Hendrix' Crosstown Traffic. A great album all around!


Okko - Sitar and Electronics, 1971
192 kbps, 31 mb
REUP: megaupload
1. Ganges Delta
2. Himalaya Highway
3. East Indian Traffic
4. If I Needed Someone
5. Shivas Lullaby
6. Painted Sails on Ganges
7. Santana
8. A Day in the Life

Brass band blowout

These are two brass bands from very different parts of the globe. BBB plays the covers of indian film music (AKA Bollywood), indian folk and such; Fanfare Ciocarlia (ciocarlia = skylark) is a gypsy wedding band, sort of, although they also cover the James Bond Theme and Caravan. In these two very different pots there grew two equally potent plants that can get you very high on the powerfully explosive sounds of a huge brass section blowing their heads off.
I am not quite sure how to classify these, besides a generic "world music" label. Even "instro" isn't quite right because the Ciocarlias sing, too; in fact, the vocal numbers Ma Maren Ma and Sandala are my favorite on this disc.


The Bollywood Brass Band
REUP 11/11/14: zippyshare or uloz.to 192 kbps, 59mb
1. Loay Loay Aaja Mahi (Safri)
2. Gur Nalon Ishk Mitha (trad. Punjab–Sagoo)
3. Kehna Hi Kya (Rahman–Mehboob; arr. Moore)
4. (Ek Ho Gaye) Hum Aur Tum (Rahman–Mehboob)
5. Hawa Hawa (Ashraf)
6. Pardesi Pardesi (Shrava–Samir)
7. Mehndi Laga Ke Rakhna (Jatin-Lalit–Bakhshi)
8. Gur Nalon Ishk Mitha [remix]
9. Kehne Hi Kya [remix]


Fanfare Ciocarlia - Gili Garabdi
192kbps, 79mb
REUP 2/8/2014: 4shared
1. 007 (James Bond Theme)
2. Alili
3. Sirba Moldoveneasca
4. Caravan
5. Ma Maren Ma
6. Hora Arabeasca
7. Golden Days
8. Lume, Lume
9. Sandala
10. Moldavian Mood
11. Hora Evreiasca
12. Time Out
13. Godzila
14. Ibrahim
15. Rumba de la Lasi
16. Alili [Radio Version]