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Showing posts from July 22, 2007

Sublime Music from the Subcontinent

Josh--Shahid Parvez & Shashank Sense World Music While I have not read much research into the healing effects of classical Indian music, I would imagine that this music goes along ways in connecting both sides of the brain. On one side you have the rhythm cycles, the improvisation, and the mathematical architecture. And on the other side, spirituality, beauty, and other worldliness comes into play. It's the perfect marriage between the Hindu deities, Shiva and Shakti or the feminine and the masculine sides of the human psyche. Other healing aspects that I can personally attest to, is that listening to classical Indian music heals problems with short attention spans. Listening to each piece from the slow and elaborate Alap section to the climatic moments which come later in the Gat (composition), section where musicians are free to improvise, teaches listeners how to focus on the moment. Then add the sensuality of the exotic instruments, the playfulness between musicians, t...

Songs for The Beloved: Qawwali Music

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan Sufi Qawwalis Arc Music (Review from Cranky Crow Whole Music) I doubt Qawwali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan needs an introduction to anyone viewing this site since this late Sufi master vocalist garnered acclaim in South Asia as well as, other corners of the world. His transcendental vocals have appeared on the soundtracks of Bollywood and Hollywood features and he performed his Sufi traditional concerts to spellbound audiences worldwide. Just listening to the four tracks on Sufi Qawwalis, Love Song, Naat-e-Sharif, Song of Praise and Traditional Qawwali will send your spirit soaring to great heights. You don't need to meditate or do anything beyond slipping this disc into your stereo. Hailing from a long lineage of practitioners of qawwali (the Indo-Pakistan version of Sufi music which traveled to the subcontinent in the 13th Century and was transformed by the Sufi poet and composer, Hazrat Amir Khusrau), Nusrat was poised for success. And yet, similar t...