March 31, 2010

Dancing Kathak all night long (Repost)


As appears in Digital MeltdOwn: Following the success of the first Sitar Beat compilation CD, a collection of Indian and Indian-inspried European funky selections from the 60s and 70s, the crew knew they had to come deep for the sequel. So for Volume 2, they go straight to heart of India with some of the rarest, and best tracks recorded between the years of 1970 and 1984.

Nearly all of these tracks are appearing on CD for the first time. Sixteen tracks of rare and funky Indian flavor, blending heavy beats with the sounds of the sitar and the inimitable vocal sounds of beloved Indian singers such as the ubiquitous Asha Bhosle and producers/songwriters like Kalyanji Ananji and R. D. Burman. Most of the tracks are culled from Bollywood sound tracks from the 70s and early 80s. Enormously popular, often wild and packed with action and romance, these films put the intense music of star composers like Burman and Kalyanji & Anandji at the forefront.

The strange, psychedelic sounds possess their own cultural mish-mash of flavors combining traditional Indian instrumentation and melodies with film music s intensity, and incorporating styles from American/Western music from about 5 years or so behind the trend. Funk, psychedelic rock, disco and proto-electro jump out from the grooves of Sitar Beat Volume 2 and hit you harder than a mouth full of spicy masala. This is soul from the Sub-continent at it's best.

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