Track Listing

1. Ja Sha Taan [Transglobal Underground Karachi Deathcult Mix] - Fun^Da^Mental
2. Kese Kese - DJ Cheb i Sabbah
3. Currents - Kingsuk Biswas
4. Ghoom Charakhana [Talvin Singh Future Sound of India Mix] - Najma
5. Sweet Pain [Joi Remix] - Michael Brook, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
6. Delirium [State of Bengal Deli Rias Mix] - Euphoria
7. Harvey and the Old Ones [Single Mix] - Banco de Gaia
8. Soft Music Under Stars - Fila Brazillia
9. Different Space - Bob Holroyd
10. All for You - Lakshminarayana Shankar

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #127648 in Music
• Released on: 2000-03-14
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .17 pounds

Amazon.com
This compilation draws together musicians who incorporate traditional Indian music into modern styles. The emphasis is heavy on the U.K.-based Asian Underground scene, which is oriented towards electronic dance music, and many of the familiar names are here, often remixing one another--Fun-Da-Mental, Transglobal Underground, Kingsuk Biswas (a.k.a. Bedouin Ascent), Talvin Singh, Banco de Gaia, and DJ Cheb i Sabbah. Most of the music from that camp is excellent and a nice introduction to their style. By contrast, Fila Brazillia and Bob Holroyd wobble the line between ambient and dull. One real eye-opener is State of Bengal's remix of the track "Delerium" by Toronto-based Ken Ramm's Euphoria. Euphoria's approach is studio-crafted music in the contemporary electronic style, but acoustic slide guitar is the primary sonic material. The other contributors from outside the U.K. dance scene are more of a mixed bag. Qawwali master Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan appears in a piece from a collaboration with Michael Brook, but his forays into modern sounds always conveyed a lot less of the ecstatic qualities of music than his more traditional records. Shankar's trademark Indian jazz fusion closes the CD and should appeal to fans of his style. --Bob Bannister

Customer Reviews

A mix of mellow as well upbeat works
The single piece that sold me on this album is "Ja Sha Taan" by Fun Da Mental. It is an upbeat piece featuring a good Pakistani Qawwali. The other reason I bought this compilation was because of Talvin Singh. I hadn't heard of "Ghoom Charakhana" but I'm an avid fan of Singh. I think he is the best solo artist among the Asian Underground Movement and he didn't disappoint me with this piece. "Sweet Pain" by Joi is another excellent remix, but this single is on "Star Rise", a compilation of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan remixes. Incidentally, Fun Da Mental is also on "Star Rise" and they deliver beautifully. The remaining pieces on the CD were too mellow for my taste. It was relaxing to the point that it lulled me to sleep.

If you are interested in getting into this genre of Asian Underground music, "Anokha: Soundz of the Asian Underground" is the best place to whet your apetite. It is probably the best compilation of Underground music yet.

Essential World Fusion Sampler
Very few Americans are aware of the emerging genre of music called "world fusion." A quick primer: world fusion is the blending of traditional "third world" music with modern Western music. The genre is gaining considerable popularity in Europe but is still almost unknown in the USA. However, one American record label, Six Degress, has devoted itself to bringing world fusion to this country. Releasing albums from many of the world's greatest world fusion artists, Six Degrees also releases what it calls its Travel Series - compilation CDs of those world fusion artists.

Asian Travels is one of the best of the Travel Series. It is an all-star compilation of some incredible talent. It serves as a wonderful introduction to the world fusion genre, giving you sample songs from ten different artists. Most of the songs are off of Six Degrees releases.

The opening track is an extremely interesting song. "Ja Sha Taan" was originally recorded by Qawwali great Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, then remixed by Fun Da Mental and in this album is further remixed by Transglobal Underground. So here we have a multi-layered song where too many cooks produce a better soup. Underneath it is a typical Qawwali song with vocals, handclaps and harmonium. But the remixers play with the vocals, add backbeats, speed up the tempo, add marvelous background vocals, and restructure the song making it a very effective high energy dance track.

"Kese Kese" is by DJ Cheb I Sabbah, a San Francisco club DJ who has fully embraced Indian music and incorporated it into his techno-trance music. Kese Kese is a melodic Indian song, beautifully sung with sitars ad tablas but with a distinctive Western club beat.

Kingsuk Biswas is from the Asian Underground movement in the London club scene and has worked with Talvin Singh. "Currents" is an ambient track with dreamy trance wails and synthesizers that provide a backdrop for an Indian-styled melody carried by drums. It is a wonderful example of how Indian percussion can blend with modern electronics. This is a `great song on the headphones in a darkened room - very trippy.

Najma is an Indian born singer who emigrated as a child to England where she has released some very beautiful albums of Indian classical and pop music. Here, her song "Ghoom Charakhana" is remixed by Talvin Singh. Singh adds a funked up tabla beat and synthpop electronics to Najma's exquisite vocals. There is an incredible breakbeat interlude in the last half of the song. One of Singh's best songs.

"Sweet Pain" is off of the acclaimed Real World release Star Rise, a compilation of remixes of Nurat Fateh Ali Khan and Michael Brook's Night Song CD. Bangladeshi techno masters Joi turn the ballad Sweet Pain into a very nice dance tune, adding a hard beat without distorting the original feel of the song.

Euphoria's "Delerium" song is wonderfully remixed by State of Bengal. "Delerium" is a unique blend of ambient and slide guitar that sounds neuvo-Western. (Definitely check out the original Delerium CD) State of Bengal adds a marvelously constructed Indian beat to support Euphoria's electronics and guitar. A very pleasant remix.

Banco de Gaia is a British artist employing Spanish and other international themes to create some fabulous ambient and techno music. "Harvey and the Old Ones" begins softly with a heartbeat-like electronic hook. It adds musical themes one by one, drums, strings, then Indian vocal percussion. After a few minutes, a Spanish vocal begins that plays back in forth with the vocal percussion. The result is a happy, upbeat catchy tune.

True to its title, "Soft Music Under Stars" by Fila Brazilla is an extended ambient song. Very dreamy, like soft breezes, electronics and bass guitar lay down a bed of sound which is joined by sitar, bells, some interesting electronic beeps and peeps and eventually a maraca and snare drum. It is as exotic as it sounds but a very relaxing and uplifting tune. At ten minutes long, it fully explores its musical themes and interplay of the diverse instruments.

Bob Holroyd is creating a new synthesis of light jazz and space music. "A Different Space" is the title track form his latest album. Organ and lyra are joined by a tabla while a man recites Indian poetry interspersed with a mellow vocal chorus. It's beatnik space jazz and beautiful and jazzy. The songs concludes with a beautiful English-language poem praying that love and beauty will triumph over pain and sorrow.

Concluding the journey is "All for You" by Shankar - the same Shankar who once collaborated with Frank Zappa. The song is a soothing blend of jazz horns with guitar, 10-string violin and sax. Jeff Garbarek blows an inspired mournful sax solo that dialogues with the violin, A very beautiful way to conclude a marvelous album.

I think listening to Asian Travels will give you a new appreciation for new forms of music. I hope you give it a chance.

Hear, Hear!!!
Originally, I heard this playing in a store. I couldn't leave the store until I listened to most of it ...then I had to find out what it was. Wow!! And now that I have a copy of my own...I just can't get enough of it. Hot tracks abound throughout this savory compilation. I am forever amazed within this genre...with the likes of Loop Guru, Deep Forest, Anokha and many others that music can become such a mental and emotional voyage. "Asian Travels" too paints lurid landscapes in exotic hues and wisks the listener to sensual, smokey vistas. Hang on, the beats are scintillating with a backdraft that pulls you along at a hair-raising pace. Most all tracks settle hard in a trancendental groove that progressively heats up from a simmer to a rolling boil! You're already in the right category of music...push the button and pull the lever and order your ticket to Asia on acid...a great adventure for under twenty bucks!