Realize

Description

. Realize may be Karsh Kale's first full-length solo release, but the percussionist/songwriter has already established himself as one of the leaders of the Asian Massive movement. Karsh Kale (pronounced Kursh Kah-lay) cut his teeth playing tabla and electronic percussion and has since collaborated with America's renegade super-producer Bill Laswell on Tabla Beat Science which assured Kale's place in the burgeoning world dance scene. He leads one of New York's coolest ensembles, and his monthly spins at Paisley and Joe's Pub are some of the hottest tickets on the New York scene. Kale, who was born of Indian parents and grew up in the US, has long played Indian classical music on the tabla, the paired hand drums of northern India. On Realize, he comes up with an irresistible fusion of both East and West. "I don't think of them as two different worlds anymore," he explains. "This record expresses how they've become one world for me." With his trademark electronic tabla sound propelling the songs along, Kale weaves strands of Indian ragas through one of the most distinctive albums of electronica to come along since the legendary Anokha collection launched the career of his longtime colleague Talvin Singh and the Asian Underground. Kale does more than simply incorporate Indian folk and classical elements into electronica, he actually approaches the songs the way an Indian musician would. "The songs on the record were created to be performed," he says, "and we treat them the way Indian musicians traditionally do looking at the songs as a repertoire that can be reinterpreted. So a bhajan (a type of Indian folk song) can be a drum'n'bass tune and vice versa." The song "Saajana," for example, is written in the bhajan style and grooves along in a modern, electronically-enhanced re-creation of the trancey rhythms of Indian folk music. On it Indian singer Vishal Vaid spins a lovely tune with synthesizer, piano, and drum programming accompaniment. Like much of Realize, the song suggests that the same things that make a hit in Bengal make for a club fave in New York namely, a strong beat and a great melody. The first single from the album is the track "Distance," where Falguni Shah sings a graceful, understated melody while Karsh Kale proves beyond a reasonable doubt that the tabla is an instrument that is as ageless as it is ancient. An electronic tabla break halfway through the song drives the point home and further blurs the distinction between old and new, Eastern and Western. "Distance" has already been remixed four times, once by Kale himself and in a series of very different productions by English dancemaster Banco de Gaia and fellow Asian Massive producers Midival Punditz and Capt. Groove, both based in India. "That's my favorite part of the whole project," Kale says, "putting a song together over a period of months and then seeing it come back as something completely different." He likens it again to the way Indian musicians will approach songs in a classical raga performance. "It's all about someone reinterpreting your work. What I got back were not just remixes, they really re-made the song." On Realize, Kale brings together an international crew of musicians including some leading players of Indian classical music most notably the great Sultan Khan, the world's unchallenged master of the sarangi (a box-shaped cello) who actually makes a rare vocal appearance on "Satellite" and on the softly chiming "Light Up the Love." Two leading bansuri (flute) players grace the recording as well: India's Ajay Prasanna and the well-known American Steve Gorn. Meanwhile the song "Satellite" features vocals in Amharic by Ethiopian pop sensation Gigi. (Kale plays on Gigi's new Laswell-produced CD available on Palm too.) Karsh Kale still plays classical Indian music and that influence helps set his music apart. Unlike so much club music, Realize is full of long, sinuous, finely-crafted melodies. In the song "Fabric," a florid raga melody supports a simpler, English-language lyric: "A thousand and one designs intertwine. Which one is mine?" The question repeats, but there's no reply at least not in the lyrics. It's Kale's blend of soaring raga vocals and steadily building electric guitars that gives the answer. "The singer Shahid Siddiqui wrote that," he explains. "We've collaborated for years, and he knew where I was coming from, so he came up with that line for me." It's not a bad line for Kale who's worked with Moroccan trance musician Hassan Hakmoun, scored the acclaimed film Chutney Popcorn, and released an EP called Classical Science Fiction from India. He has taken threads from rock, raga, dub and world fusion, and made a single design that is clearly his own. With Realize, Karsh Kale is ready to jump-start the Asian Massive movement. It's a sound that goes well beyond the confines of London's South Asian Underground. "These musicians are in India, Japan, all over the States," Kale says; "it's a category of artists that represents a whole world." Realize shows that the music can be massive and still fly. Review: Buy Me - I bought this based on a sample track (one Step beyond) in the MS Windows public music folder and I am pleased that I did. If you have a music system that can reproduce the sub bass tracks on this album all the better (especially Distance and one step beyond). Since I have listened to it I am finding that some of the other tracks are growing on me, particularly Light up the love. This Album is a great addtion to any music collection. Review: Arrived On Time and in Good Shape - Arrived on time and in good shape