Take Five: Sitar Tracks

If asked to name an Indian instrument, most people would probably say sitar. Twangy sitar notes have almost become a cliche in the West. But there are artists and musicians who know how to use the instrument.Today's Take Five is all about sitars and those who make them sound great in new and innovative ways.

Ananda Shankar - Streets of Calcutta

The nephew of famous Ravi Shankar, Ananda Shankar played with Jimi Hendix and covered songs by the Rolling Stones. Ananda Shankar was one of the first musicians who fused Eastern and Western Music together. Streets of Calcutta is a brilliant piece of phsychedelic sitar funk that sounds ahead of its time. The song was brilliantly remixed by the Punk-A-Wallahs and was recently used in the adverts for The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. 

The Decline of the Album: Part Two

In part one of this post, I looked at what iTunes and the closure of specialist music shops had done to cause the decline of the album. In part two, I am exploring the role of the media in the decline of the album and what artists can do about it.

A song can be amazing, but if music fans don’t know about it, sales of the song will be none existent. Marketing and PR companies acting on behalf of the artist used to tell the media about a new release who in turn would let fans know. The intention was to create a buzz about the release and get people interested enough to buy it.

Now with social media, an artist can reach fans quicker than the time it takes marketing to spread the word. It is great that artists can communicate directly with their fans. However, they may not be the most skilled copy writers to promote their work through social media. Tweets like “my new album is out, buy it now” soon become boring when tweeted ten times a day. All artists should be involved in promoting their work, but they have to make sure they engage their audience properly to create a buzz.

When I first started buying music I relied heavily on magazines like Snoop and several websites which no longer exist. As well as telling me about new artists, they all regularly reviewed albums. The reviews were thorough, expressed opinion and I felt I could trust them. As well as praise, there was constructive criticism which helped me sort the hits from the misses.

Jay Dabhi - Menu Tere Jeya

 

Jay Dabhi, the New York based DJ who used to stand on milk crates to reach the turntables, has remixed Menu Tere Jeya by Miss Pooja. The Miss Pooja song from the album Breathless has been mashed up with Last Forever by Norman Doray and Tristan Garner.

Like all Jay Dabhi mashups, this one works wonderfully. The original song, which was produced by Rishi Rich, was good but not fast enough to dance to or slow enough to be a romantic ballad. The makeover has transformed the track into a Punjabi house anthem.

Sadly Jay Dabhi has not made this track available to download as yet, but you can play it as much as you like on soundcloud. 

Edit: Now available to download via soundcloud. Get it while you can!

Culture Shock and Nindy Kaur - Save the World Remixes

Save the World by Culture Shock featuring Nindy Kaur, which was released on the album Legal Tender 2.5, has been remixed not once but twice. The Electro Remix is by DJ Nyk featuring DJ Pratik. The other remix is by DJ Lijo. Both tracks were released via the Three Records soundcloud account. 

The new versions of the hit song are both full on dance tracks and I'm not sure which I prefer. Both have plenty of bass and thankfully have kept Nindy's vocals intact. 

These have been released as free downloads so get them while you can.

Bilal Khan - Bhool

Bilal Khan, the guitarist who started his musical career under a tree in a University in Lahore, has released  Bhool on youtube. This is the first song from his next album Maktoob.

Bhool starts off simply and steadily builds as more instruments are added to the song. There is an instrumental break halfway through after which Bilal's brilliant vocals kick in again. Strangely for a Bilal track, there is little emphasis on his guitar. There is a guitar in the track but it blends with the rest of the instruments. The lyrics are poetic and there is a good balance between the vocals and the accompaniment.

I loved Bilal's last album Umeed and I am thrilled that he has put this single on youtube. Bhool has many signature elements of a Bilal Khan track such as Bachana. It is slow and melodic like the songs on Umeed, but the tone of Bhool is richer and it seems to have more depth which suggests that he has developed as an artist.

There are currently no release dates available for Bhool or Maktoob, but hopefully they will be on iTunes soon.