Congratz Masala Records (-°-)

Just got the news that a mate of mine started his own label. Check out the vid below and the link to the site.

http://masalarecords.wix.com/masalarecords

 

 

 

Some weekend in Bombay…

For some reason I’ve had the chance or luck (or karma) to meet several of my musical influences. Mainly those who had a profound role in the -Asian Underground/Massive- music movement. Short meetings nevertheless, but they were all very spontaneous and a nice memory.

It was end nineties when a mate (through another mate) gave me a copy (on TAPE) of Karsh Kale’s “Classical Science Fiction from India”. It was this piece of music and Talvin Singh’s Grammy winning  “O.K.” that started to influence me heavily and changed the way I wanted to play music. Along with the almighty Zakir Hussain they became my major inspiration to fondle and fiddle away on that magical instrument called “Tabla”. Of course since 95% of my “tutoring” is DIY, I ain’t too fab on it. Nevertheless, it was never my intention to play  Indian Classical music but rather to use it (tabla) in semi-electronic sets and more as a “groove-instrument” rather than becoming a virtuoso on it.

First weekend of April 2009…for me, the last weekend of a 9-month stay in India & Nepal before I took off back to Europistan. My flight was leaving from Mumbai and had one last weekend to kill. Which is easy for me since Bombay (Mumbai) is so far my most favourite city in India and elsewhere. (There’s tons of shtuff to do, to see, to explore, to eat, to find, to discover, to listen, etc. And there’s this amazing venue in Lower Parel called “The Blue Frog” where they have artists on stage from around the globe! Check this place out when in Bombay!) While reading through “Time Out – Mumbai” under the cool breeze, created by the ceiling fan, my eye wandered off to an ad for the New CD release of the Midival-Punditz starring (their frequent collaborator) Karsh Kale and all this was happening at the blue frog…two nights in a row that very same weekend. My “last” weekend in India was going to be a musical one!

At the Blue Frog later that night… Although, through the help of my (then) girlfriend, I was able to hang out with Karsh and the Punditz for a few memorable moments, the real treat and surprise, however short-lived it was, came afterwards. While standing outside (the blue frog) for a cigarette (yep, I know, filthy habit) some guy asked me for a light. Since we were the only two standing there, we had a brief conversation. Can’t remember exactly what the guy’s role was but I think he might have been from Karsh’s or the Punditz’s management. All of a sudden there was this gorgeous lady walking up to us and introduced herself to me and greeted the dude I was standing with. Clearly they knew each other well. I got her name right though, Anoushka… We had a brief conversation about where I was from and about music. And then it hit me, I was standing there talking with the amazing Anoushka Shankar, daughter of Sitar-Maestro; Ravi Shankar. (-°-)

Enjoy the beautiful playing of Anoushka Shankar in this amazing performance!

 

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Lost in Transit

For those interested… nu toon….

FREE MUSIC (-°-)

Decided to put my tunes up 4 FREE download. Enjoy.

Nu tunes on bandcamp

Ripples & pickles

I never intended to make a blog like this personal. But recent evolutions and circumstances have made the situation so that it is hard not to write about them. Since I’m a firm believer of Karma, everything that happens to me, I’m sure, is for a (good) reason. It is perhaps, for me, the only reason to stay more or less focused and put it all in perspective. Plus, there’s always! someone worse off than you/me. But just sometimes it seems that the errors one makes (hence the Karma) are met with a greater and often worse fate than first comprehended. But I guess that’s just the domino-effect. You know, the stone in the water and ripples thing…action-reaction, etc. The other “error” I often make is having “expectations”. One automatically presumes that, if ever in a pickle, people that are close to you might give a helping hand. Needless to say, this is utter bollocks. The only place where this happens is in the thought inside your head. In reality folks have it bad enough with their own lives, so they don’t really wonna adopt another set of “worries”. Which is fair enough, I guess. In the meantime, one draws lessons (thank god) from every ripple encountered and caused.

Luckily…Well for me at least, I can still be a bit creative. And music, I guess, is always a nice way of channeling whatever energy is inside of us. recently I’ve put up my 10th tune on “Soundcloud” so I included them in this post. They are also available and downloadable from my Bandcamp-page (4FREE).

quick toon b4 da weekend (-°-)

Learning = Available! (-°-)

Today is the day…my first single release, “Learning” is now available on beatport!!! (-°-)
http://www.beatport.com/release/learning/870083
Click Below to listen to a clip of the track. And please remember, takings from the track will be donated to the Cheb I Sabbah Cancer-Fund.

OUT SOON TOO!

The People at Six Degrees Records and their artists have been putting together an album for Cheb I Sabbah. It’s due to release quite soon. Will keep ya posted!

BOOM!

For years I’ve been cooking up half baked tunes and tracks that never made it any further than a Hard-Drive or a self-run website.
Never thought that anybody would actually be interested in them. But some rather nice comments (by some friends and others) recently on a few tracks (that I did share) made me decide to send some of my brews to a few labels. Only a few days ago I got contacted by – Chill Om Records – a label based in Delhi/India. If I would be interested for them to release – Learning – (the tune that I made for Cheb I Sabbah) as a single and putting it on a compilation also. And in time maybe releasing an album. I got the news last Monday, and I’m still on a happy buzz. :) We’ll see what comes of it…but the mere fact that someone noticed me and even liked it enough to release it through their label…never could ‘ave imagined that.
Big ups! to -Chill Om Records – thanks guys! (-°-)