The Whole Music Experience

Jayanthi Kumaresh Mysterious Duality Just Me EarthSync I first heard veena player Jayanthi Kumaresh perform on collaborative recordings on Sense World Music in 2007. On rare occasions I heard classical Indian music from South India and even more rare that I heard veena recordings. In many ways, the veena resembles the sitar of North India’s classical music tradition, but the veena’s tones sound warmer and resonate deeper than a sitar. On her solo recording Mysterious Duality (Just Me) , Kumaresh layers several veenas, up to 7 overdubs on the 4 tracks that appear on the recording. I thought I read somewhere that she performed on 12 veenas for this recording, but now that I look for that information I’m unable to find it. In the press notes, Kumaresh reflects about how she wanted to bring out the nuances of the veena. “The pieces that emerged once Jayanthi found her footing move from contemplative layered arpeggios to energetic, complex melodies, from percussive grooves to da...

Shastriya Syndicate Syndicated Sense World Music Mandala ensemble Mandala Sense World Music It was one of those gorgeous late spring Saturdays with every plant under the sun blooming, and nothing could go wrong. I received two new Sense World Music recordings, both ensembles that literally blew me away. First, Shastriya Syndicate which features some of India's masterful young talent including, sitarist Purbayan Chatterjee, Carnatic veena player Jayanthi Kumaresh, tabla player Subhankar Banerjee, sarangi player Murad Ali, bansuri flutist Rakesh Chaurasia, mridangam player Patri Satish Kumar and percussionist Pramath Kiran (from Carnatic and Hindustani traditions). This fiery ensemble performs original compositions on their debut recording, Syndicated . The playing here, borders on 60s psychedelic--exploding with fantastic colors reminding me of Jimi Hendrix' saying, "are you experienced?" I am not sure why exactly, except that the experience of listen...