Breathing Under Water

by

Karsh Kale and Anoushka Shankar

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Anoushka is Sitar maestro Ravi Shankar's daughter.

After "Rise", which was released two years ago, got her a Grammy nomination in the Best Contemporary World Music category she has been experimenting with forms far beyond those of Indian classical music to reach a wider audience.

Anoushka's album, made in collaboration with musician Karsh Kale, blends Indian classical, electronica and folk.

London-born and New York-raised, Kale balances his Indian heritage with rock 'n' roll, hip-hop and atmospheric pop.

"I am pushing the envelope on a personal level and trying to see how far I can go", Anoushka said. "It means so much to me to explore the Indian classical music my father taught me, yet I am so deeply excited to be discovering my own creative voice".

Imagine living in a world where psychedelic raves follow classical recitals and rock and roll dives become Bollywood hangouts. A world where one finds West Coast yogis immersed in Eastern culture and the New York underground drawing inspiration from the Mumbai club scene, where globalization is an internal state-of-being and borders were made to be crossed.

This is the world Anoushka Shankar and Karsh Kale live in and journey through.

"Breathing Under Water" is the soundtrack of this journey as created by two of the most visionary talents pioneering the hip and fertile overlap of today's world music scene.

The album is carefully constructed and composed, boasting some of the finest guest artists on the order of Ravi Shankar - who created the nucleus of two climatic pieces for the album (Oceanic Parts 1 & 2) plus Sting, Anoushka's sister Norah Jones, MIDIval PunditZ, Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Noah Lembersky , Shankar Mahadevan and Sunidhi Chauhan.

"Breathing Under Water" plays like a modern gypsy travelogue through the alluring world of Shankar and Kale.

Karsh Kale, 32-year old, a tabla drummer who is also an electronica producer and programmer, was raised in America by Indian parents, and proved his instrumental talent early - as a founding member of the all-star super group Tabla Beat Science and later as producer and composer of some of the finest global electronica of the past decade.

His meeting amd working with Anoushka Shankar - the 25-year old star sitarist and composer would seems almost inevitable, given their markedly parallel paths.

Saying that "Breathing Under Water" is a career breakthrough for both Shankar and Kale is an understatement.

For both, it proved creatively catalytic and stands as a measure of their growth as musicians, as they broke ground beyond the roles each is known for: Shankar expanding her talents as an electronic producer, keyboard/pianist, composer and lyricist, and Kale as a composer and singer, while playing guitars, tabla, drums, keyboards and bass.

For both the common thread within this album remained the Indian Classical repertoire.

In the same way rock and roll artists used blues music and hip hop artists use jazz and funk as their muse to create new forms, Kale and Shankar both keep Indian music at the centre of all that they create, yet allow the music to expand beyond cultural and traditional borders to reach a panoramic view of their world.

"Breathing Under Water" features numerous special guests, some of them actually rather famous.

Sitar maestro and living legend Ravi Shankar, 85, plays on two tracks.

The pleasant "Sea Dreamer", features vocals and acoustic guitar from Sting, more evocative singing comes from Sunidhi Chauhan on the haunting "Ghost Story".

"Easy", featuring a vocal Norah Jones, is surely the album's flat-out prettiest track, a delicate, restrained piece that sees the two sisters trying to out-do each other on the blissful melodies.

Overall, the album is a genuine meld of music that cohesively blends different sounds and represents the best kind of change that can be brought about through tasteful fusion and well crafted songwriting.

"Breathing Under Water is nothing less than delightfully -- and sometimes powerfully -- unique". Thom Jurek-Allmusic

My highlights : "Easy", "Ghost Story", "Oceanic, Part.1" and "Little Glass Folk".

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Being a fan of East Indian Cinema, Karsh Kale's album "Liberation" and Anoushka Shankar's album "Rise," I had sky-high expectations for this album. I expected Anoushka's firm roots in classical Indian music to balance Karsh Kale's electronica focus, but then I also expected Karsh to really get Anoushka grooving with more house-type beats- and create an ideal middle ground. I wasn't expecting any straight-sitar tracks, of which there are. After giving the album quite a few listens, I feel that Anoushka has a stronger presence on the album than Karsh, which disappointed me a bit. Nevertheless, there are still some phenomenal tracks here:

Easy - My favorite song from this album- gorgeous soft piano drifts ethereally in the background as Norah Jones reminisces about the joys and sorrows of young love. Simple, emotional, breathtaking

Abyss - My second favorite track from the album- I can hear Karsh and Anoushka's influences here equally. Fantastic production and interesting changes throughout the entire song.

PD7 - Third favorite- it starts out sounding like it will be your average traditional sitar and raga track, but it gradually adds a sinister chill-out beat and becomes updated and modern- Karsh is definitely heard here.

Slither - Great production, starting with the groovy little sliced-sitar stutter at the beginning, and moving into a chill-out sort of tune

Breathing Under Water - For me, this song has such intense emotion- sadness, longing

Ghost Story - Haunting vocals, I could picture this used in an art-house Bollywood film

My least favorite tracks were:

Sea Dreamer - Sting? Huh? Sort of just mediocre pop for me- pretty melody, but eh...

Little Glass Folk - The strings just don't work here for me- way too synthesized and punctuated and out of place

A Perfect Rain - Sort of like Sea Dreamer, just easy-going pop... eh...

In sum, I think it's all about expectations here- if you're expecting more Karsh and less Anoushka, you might be disappointed. Otherwise, I think you're in for a nice listen and possibly a great introduction for how the sitar can sound in non-classical pieces.