Dreyfus Records Focuses on New Music from India

If any further proof were still needed that the boundaries between East and West have been obliterated, two new albums being released by Dreyfus Records on July 22nd will more than suffice. Niladri Kumar's Zitar and U. Shrinivas' Samjanitha define the term Indian fusion, although neither can be constrained by category quite that easily. These are recordings that pay homage to tradition while rocketing fearlessly into the future, folding together established genres such as rock, jazz, electronica and world music so seamlessly that something wholly new emerges.

Both Niladri Kumar and U. Shrinivas have long been recognized as leaders in the realm of progressive Indian music. Niladri, who began learning to play sitar at age 4, is the son of Pandit Kartick Kumar, himself a master of the instrument who studied under Ravi Shankar. But the younger Kumar is all about taking the instrument to new places. Zitar is named after Niladri's customized five-string electrified sitar (considerably fewer strings than the instrument's usual 20), which sports a special pickup designed to give the instrument a range of guitar effects. Its sound is at once familiar yet undeniably unexplored.

Called “one of the brightest young sitar players in a long time" by the All Music Guide, Kumar has maintained a busy schedule of recording and live performance throughout his career, which has taken him into many diverse forms of music. He is a guest musician on the latest CD by jazz guitar legend John McLaughlin and took part recently in Zakir Hussain's Masters of Indian Percussion tour.

Zitar is Kumar's most eloquent, individualistic statement to date. From the ethereal, orchestral vistas of “Priority," the opening track, to the pulsating, jazz-like virtuosity of the closing “Zilebration," Zitar is an exhilarating sonic ride. Utilizing both Western (flute, guitar) and Indian instrumentation (tabla, sarangi), as well as chants and electronic programming, the album -- on which Niladri surrounds himself with equally visionary collaborators -- is a tour through both sunny, pastoral landscapes and teeming, cosmopolitan modernity.

Like Niladri Kumar, U. (short for Upalappu) Shrinivas is quickly finding a sizable audience attuned to his enticing explorations of Indian music's new possibilities. A mandolin maestro since taking up the instrument at age 6 -- his father, Sri Satyanarayana, also played the stringed instrument -- he is single-handedly responsible for reviving the mandolin's role in Indian music. More commonly found amidst bluegrass and various folk music forms, the mandolin was introduced to Indian Carnatic classical music in the 1940s and also used sparingly in Bollywood and bhangra recordings. But U. Shrinivas is credited with redefining the relationship between the mandolin and Indian music, particularly by making his instrument of choice the electric mandolin, which brings a harder, more urbanized edge into any musical setting than the more traditional acoustic version.

Shrinivas has won many awards for his consummate musicianship, has toured the world -- even performing at the 1992 Olympics -- and his discography boasts not only guest appearances with many other diverse players but a number of recordings under his own name. He is also highly regarded for his work with the aforementioned John McLaughlin, who included Shrinivas in his popular jazz-Indian fusion group Remember Shakti. Most recently, Shrinivas was featured on the critically acclaimed album Miles from India, which combined American alumni of Miles Davis' various jazz-based bands with today's top Indian musicians to create new interpretations of Miles' music that bridge the gaps between those two seemingly diverse entities.

Samjanitha, U. Shrinivas' new release on Dreyfus, is at once his most complex and most accessible music. Shrinivas and his cohorts -- which include some of the most renowned names in contemporary Indian music -- navigate hairpin rhythmic turns and offer a consistently invigorating panoply of tantalizing sounds. With fellow virtuosi Debashish Bhattacharya on slide guitar, Zakir Hussain on tabla, V. Selvaganesh on the kanjeera, and Vikku Vinayakram on the ghatam, plus Dominique di Piazza playing bass, George Brooks on sax and Shrinivas' brother U. Rajesh also on mandolin -- with McLaughlin contributing guitar to one track, the hypnotic “From Folktales" -- Samjanitha is a feast of contemporary music that is sure to rearrange in the minds of many just where Indian music is headed in the 21st century.

Forget what you thought Indian music was. After hearing Niladri Kumar's Zitar and U. Shrinivas' Samjanitha, that's about to change.