Susheela Raman-blend of carnatic,jazz and pop

Description

* Classical Indian instrumentation over modern pop and funk beats.
* Sensuous vocals and intensely beautiful lyrics, set to both jazzy-pop tunes and ragas.
* Pop sensibilites that make the album extremely accessible.






About Susheela Raman :Susheela Raman was born in London to South Indian parents, but soon after moved to Australia, where she grew up studying Carnatic Music. Eventually, she discovered funk and soul music, but as an adult, re-discovered Carnatic music and began to blend the genres together.



As an artist, Raman continues to develop and explore issues of identity with new sounds that celebrate multiplicity. She draws her collaborators from across Europe, Asia, and Africa: Cameroonian bassist Hilaire Penda, Guinea-Bissau born percussionist Djanuno Dabo, American drummer Marque Gilmore, British-Asian tabla player Aref Durvesh, and of course British guitarist and producer Sam Mills are at the heart of this album as they were on Salt Rain.
Paradoxically, Music for Crocodiles is both more English and more Indian than either Salt Rain or Love Trap. More than half the songs are in English (her first language) and Raman emerges as a formidable songwriter (listen to What Silence Said and The Same Song). And where on the previous albums there were musicians from everywhere playing Indian songs, here we have musicians from India playing songs in English. A new dimension came from recording in India, as well as in the UK and France. The Indian presence adds joy, light, and depth to the record. tric East African groove and Raman's blues based vocal could be from Addis Ababa, Mumbai, or Chicago. Incidentally the amazing Hammond organ is played by Malian Chek Tdjen Seck, the musical godfather of Paris. Light Years recorded in Madras, is a South Indian melody transmuted here into a sublime English love song. Meanwhile is Raman's melody, sung in English but based on the rare South Indian raga, Kanyakangi, which infuses its sultry, seductive atmosphere. For the first time, Susheela also sings in French on L'ame Volatile.
The album was produced by Sam Mills and engineered by Stuart Bruce in the same room at Real World studios as Salt Rain. With much of the same band on the album it was a flashback to recording Ganapati. The buzz and feeling really reminded the whole team of Salt Rain. Everybody had that same feeling of excitement and revelation. Raman and producer Sam Mills put everything they had into this record. They took several months off to prepare for the studio and make sure they had the material they wanted and it's paid off: The buzz the record has created is like Salt Rain too - Raman and Mills have had a hard time keeping hold of their listening copies as people eagerly requested the album. Now we can all hear it.






Music for Crocodiles
This album has more songs in English and even one in French, as well as featuing songs and musicians from South India. It's now about six or seven years since I started work with Sam, Hilaire, Djanuno and Aref; time for the sauce to thicken and our complicity to deepen. We had been playing incarnations of some of these songs live for a time and, after rehearsals, spectacular biryanis and bass amp fires at home in London, we recorded the body of the album in a few days at Stuart Bruce's studio in Wilthsire in September 2004. Then, in October, Sam, Stuart and I went to Tamilnadu to work with some superb musicians in Chennai (aka Madrs). Even though much of the repertoire I perform is South Indian in origin, it was my first chance to record with Indian musicians. It was an overwhelming experience. (The dosas were perfect). The last part of the adventure was to mix the album with Husky Hoskulds in Los Angeles who brought his volcanic soundscape and guided us through the quesadilla menu.



Salt Rain
Salt Rain was recorded between October and December 2000 (except Mamavatu which was recorded the preceding February for the Gifted album on Real World). We were lucky to collaborate with some unique musicians who live mostly in London and Paris but are of diverse origins: Guinea Bissau, Cameroun, India, Romania, France, Greece, Egypt, Kenya, America, and Spain. Any record is a meeting of many minds and, now more than ever, it is networks of people, not just individuals, that spark new and exciting work. Everyone brought their own special energy to the music and I am very proud of what we all worked together to create.



Love Trap
When the time came to start work on "Love Trap", I was convinced of the need to capture some of that energy and spontaneity and, accordingly, these new recordings have a very live feel. Working again with Sam Mills as producer, and with Stuart Bruce as sound guru, we recorded the body of the album in the wonderful ambience of El Cortijo studios in Southern Spain. It was pure pleasure to witness the versatility of all the musicians bringing their energy and inspiration to these songs. The repertoire is as mixed before; there is more exploration of the Carnatic repertoire with several songs composed in Sanskrit and Telegu. The last song is a Tiruvachakam, an earlier form of hymn to Shiva, written in Tamil."Ye Meera Divanapan Hai" was originally sung by Mukesh in the 1960 Hindi film "Yehudi". "Sakhi Maro" is a devotional song by the sixteenth century female mystic Meera.










from :https://www.susheelaraman.com ,https://worldmusic.about.com/od/reviews/gr/RamanMusicCrocs.htm


demos are available for download on her site...

 

Interesting...thanks for the link.

 

Blend of carnatic, jazz and pop... now thats some combination. Will download the demo songs.