Sunday, October 25, 2009

Shakti - Ultimate.

This one HAD to go into the blog.



These guys had so much fun doing what they did - So pure, so genuine. Each one of them has an abstract theory about what Shakti is, but no one is conclusive to describe exactly what it means , yet they are successful in getting their message across to be what they want to it be seen as.

Shakti is all about improvisation but nobody that i know of has come to their class in classical(pun??) music even when orchestrated.
John seems to have such a minor part to play amongst such boisterous instruments around him, yet he adds that subtle acoustic guitar touch now then which adds so much beauty to the tune.
i could go on - but see and feel for yourself.

Zakhir puts it really well - " We are not a band - we are one".

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Thursday, October 8, 2009

1 giant leap

There are very few bands that stand out these days from the cliche genre that you are used to listening. 1 gaint leap is a band i stumbled across listening to a Pandora station on - Afro Celt Sound System- another beautiful band,many lovely songs, but it' ll have to wait for its turn.

The concept, i believe, behind 1gl is essentially this ( lets see if i can express this right) - Spreading love that is en-laced with spirals of the beauty within music.Good luck on making a meaning out of that.
They have produced a number of popular artists featuring tracks including Baaba maal, Robbie williams, Stipe, et al.
The song below is going down as one of my all time favorites. It just fills you with so much joy.



Most of their songs have a bunch of people from around the world dispensing their thoughts on problem statements that, i think, we all acknowledge in a subtle form but never really try to find a solution to. (Well, man happens to be inherently reactive, only on a disturbing stimulus i guess.) These thoughts by all these different people at different instances on all these songs listened to at sporadic moments kicks off thoughts in my head which i previously took for granted.
Try this song out - Braided hair- for example - see if you are able to connect at all - The people i have recommended stuff like this so far always come back with a boolean response at an exaggerated level.Its either "thank you so much for this stuff " and i know they really do mean it - else its "you are turning gay":)



"I am you and you are me i see".

Songs by this band just radiate so much happiness that i have made it a point these days to listen to this band first thing in the morning and contrary to my theoretical beliefs - it does make a difference.Sucks that they don't have too many songs out there - but i think ill leverage this as long as i can.

Give it a go!