Full-throated

By Shatarupa Chaudhuri, "No adulteration in these Sufi numbers" - Express Buzz - Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Monday, March 9, 2009

This one is a Scotch on the rocks -- smooth, pure, undiluted, of the true essence.

It is not completely devoid of fusion, but those elements just stay in the backdrop, like devotees following humbly and inconspicuosly in the shadow of a great saint.

Chennai-based world music label EarthSync’s latest release, ‘Nagore Sessions’, celebrates the label’s commitment to nurture folk, tribal and native music.

The album ‘Nagore Sessions’, released in late February, features three dargah singers -- Abdul Ghani, Ajah Maideen and Saburmaideen Babha Sabeer -- of the local Nagore dargah in the Nagapattinam district in Tamil Nadu. The renditions of these Nagori Sufi singers have been accompanied by a medley of Indian and western instruments ranging from the ektara to the Rhodes.

The seven Sufi melodies in the album -- ‘Bagdad Guru’, ‘The Saint’, ‘Ya Allah’, ‘Allahu Allah’, ‘Ya Haja’, ‘Into Your Eyes’ and ‘Mahane Mohabbat’ -- are traditional songs. And the first thing they do is transport you to a dargah, taking you on a spiritual trip.

You have to like the raw, earthy and very genuine Sufi music to appreciate them. Once you are into the mood, you will find yourself rapt, hooked on by the full-throated, uninhibited voices singing our of pure devotion and unadulterated belief.

The frame drum (by Zohar Fresco) with the Rhodes (Patrick Sebag) creates a lounge effect in ‘Bagdad Guru’, as do the keyboards in the opening of ‘Ya Allah’, but they never try to overwhelm the original spirit of the songs. In fact, as one moves along, the songs take on more traditional and folk colours, with the fusion fading out gently.

BV Ragavendra Rao has used his violin innovatively in songs like ‘Bagdad Guru’ and ‘Into Your Eyes’. The latter is a vibrant folk tune with great use of string instruments and the harmonium by Palakkad Sreeram.

On the softer spectrum is ‘Allahu Allah’, with soothing sitar by RK Ravi Kumar. In ‘Ya Haja’, rhythm instruments have created southern beats that accompany dance forms like Kathakali or Kuchipudi that complement the song to great effect, with bass by David Saban.

One must compliment the musicians for making the original Sufi songs more efficacious.

[Listen to a sample of the music at http://www.myspace.com/nagoresessions].