We love good music any time. Like the famous saying in The Alchemist, good music seems to follow us anywhere we go. My brother Raghu was once in the Landmark shop in Bangalore’s Forum mall. There was this music playing, and it didn’t take more than a couple of seconds for him to decide to buy the album. He asked the shopkeepers, and they didn’t know which was the album. Raghu grew desperate, he rushed to the next floor – if the music stopped, he may never know the name of the album.
Fortunately for him and me, someone told him the song belonged to kARNATRiix album. More information and samples of their tracks are available at http://www.myspace.com/karnatriix. Here is an extract:
kARNATRiix is the brainchild of one of India’s most exceptional guitar players, John Anthony. Accompanying him on this magical journey is a brilliant exponent of the Sarangi, Ustad Faiyaz Ahmed Khan.
kARNATRiix is not just another trick out of the sagging bag of what goes for fusion music these days. It is the soul-soothing culmination of a band of musicians’ experiments with different styles and sounds, much like a new color produced by the skillful combination of various hues and shades.
kARNATRiix’s soundscape stretches out far beyond what has been created hitherto. It is contemporary and yet traditional. It is not simple and yet not complicated. It is electronica and also acoustica. You can chill out or just sit in silent contemplation as the music fills up your senses. Misguided and conflicting it might seem, but the music is direct and clear, offering Indian classical creations in a new age package to people all over the world.
All the four tracks are instrumentals with vocals in the background at some instances. Well, my favorite track is, by a huge margin, the second one, “endarO mahAnubhAvuLu (ఎందరో మహానుభావులు)”, a version of one of the five Telugu compositions from Sri Thyagaraja’s Pancharatna Krithis. Though I’m hugely biased towards any variation or rendition of this track, I like Dr.M. Bala Murali Krishna’s vocal-version the best (I remember buying the cassette at Hyderabad’s Birla Mandir, in the summer of 1995, just after my Std. Tenth). There have been many versions of the track, such as Kannukudi Vaidyanathan’s violin instrumental track.
kARNATRiix is a huge treat to your senses. If you’re stressed out, feeling low, facing life’s many twists-and-turns, or just looking for soul-stirring music, play kARNATRiix and sit-back. Enjoy the magical journey, you’ll travel out of the world and come back re-charged!
Possibly related posts:
Tags: music
