Category Archives: CD Reviews

CD Review: “Big Apple Blues” – Tomás Doncker and Yusef Komunyakaa Join Forces to Extend the Blues Tradition

Tomas Doncker Band CD coverArtist: Tomás Doncker Band
Title: Big Apple Blues
Label: True Groove Records
Genre: Blues/nu blues

CD Review by Dawoud Kringle

Let’s face it; the blues have been done to death. Far from its African roots, its American tradition, during the 60s and beyond, the blues were looted by the (sometimes well meaning) British and Americans. With only a few exceptions, it seemed to have been squeezed for every drop of essence it had, and what was left was sustaining mostly unimaginative musicians who were seduced by its romance and deceptively simple musical structure, and die-hard traditionalists who struggle to preserve the tradition.

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CD Recommendation: Unlocking the Past: Maldivian Traditional Music from V. Keyodhoo Opens the Box of History

MaldivanArtist: Maldivian Traditional Music
Title: Vaavu Keyodhoo
Label: Asasi Records
Genre: Maldivian Traditional Music

The Maldives. With its blue seas and perfect weather, the islands in the Indian Ocean are a favorite vacation and honeymoon destination. But look past the tourist glitz and there are centuries of history and music here that have gone undocumented. All that changes, though, with Maldivian Traditional Music from V. Keyodhoo (released October 7th, 2014 on Asasi Records), a three-CD collection that offers the very first glimpse of the boduberu, thaara, and raivaru traditions from one of the islands in the chain. And it includes the singing of a woman who know those traditions well – she was already a centenarian when the recording was made.

“The music is in its traditional form as it would probably have sounded like even 100 years ago,” explains Abdulla Kaleem, the album’s producer. “It’s not practiced on every island, either, although it’s strong on V. Keyodhoo, which is about 90 minutes by speedboat south of the Maldives capital, Male.’

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CD Review: ZOO (India)…making the caged primordial instinct of humanity into something beautiful

ZOOArtist: ZOO
Title: Atoms & Combinations
Label: Metal Postcard  Rec
Genre: trip hop/electronics/alternative rock

CD review by Dawoud Kringle

When one thinks of Calcutta, trip hop, electronica, and alternative rock somehow don’t spring to mind. Yet, ZOO, the Calcutta based quartet featuring Tanya Sen (vocals, live triggers), Bodhisattwa Ghosh (programming, synthesizers, guitars, vocals), Prosanto Mahato (bass), and Rohit Nandi (drums & interference) provide an intriguing example of a shattered stereotype.

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CD Review: The Bombay Royale… a musical romp through the mythology of cinema music born of the blending of eastern and western subcultures

The Bombay RoyaleArtist: The Bombay Royale
Title: The Island of Dr. Electro
Label: HopeStreet Recordings
Genre: synthesizing Indian classical and folk music with Western styles such as surf, rock and disco/soundtrack

CD Review by Dawoud Kringle

Formed in Melbourne, Australia in 2010 by musical director and saxophonist Andy Williamson, The Bombay Royale is an 11-piece Australian band fronted by singers Parvyn Kaur Singh and Shourov Bhattacharya. Taking soundtracks of 1960’s and 1970’s Bollywood movies as their main source of inspiration, their music synthesizes Indian classical and folk music with Western styles such as surf, rock and disco. In their beginning, they played covers of popular Hindi songs from the 60s and 70s. They have since composed and performed original music.

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CD Review: Kali Z. Fasteau’s “Piano Rapture”…new works on piano

Kali Z. Fasteau CDArtist: Kali Z. Fasteau
Title: Piano Rapture
Label: Flying Note Rec
Genre: jazz/improv

CD Review by Matt Cole

Kali Z. Fasteau is an accomplished composer and multi-instrumentalist, having traveled all over the world learning and playing various woodwind and string instruments and absorbing the music of the many places she has lived and created. On Piano Rapture, she returns to her first instrument, presenting nearly an hour of spontaneous compositions for both solo piano and small ensemble. Her collaborators on this project include reed players Kidd Jordan, L. Mixashawn Rozie, and J.D. Parran; and percussionist Ron McBee.

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