Label: Music Today,
Rating: 3.5/5,
‘In concert’ boasts nine tracks and has shades of Indian Classical, Arabic and Jazz. The concept is unique in many ways – majority of the tracks are picked from Prem Joshua’s live gigs. While listening to the album, you might get a feeling of being ‘in a concert’ – hence the name, one supposes!
Anyway, let’s go through the tracks…
The album opens with the meditative ‘Namaskar’ – a nice mix of controlled sitar melodies over brilliant progressions and subtle electronic backing. ‘Namaskar’ is mystique in many ways and allows the listener to interpret the track in the way he/she wants. The next track ‘Jule lal’ is experimental in nature with Indian melodies over Middle Eastern percussions – one can hear all the band mates sing on this. Though it’s an average track, check this one out for its percussions and variations.
‘Seven Bubbles in a bottle’ has Joshua on the flute as well as the sitar, the track shifts from fusion to pure classical midway – quite a unique transition. However, Joshua’s playing remains tight. The next ‘The subject tonight is love’ is a fabulous mix of Middle Eastern melody over jazz rhythmic improvisations. Being the longest track of the album, one can hear all the musicians playing their respective instrumental solos – check out the bass parts by Satgyan Fakuda.
Cosmo-Bali-Tan is a lounge track with subtle but invoking sounds – in sum its fusion at its best. ‘Mata Bharat’ has the band chanting the mantras – creating a settling -meditative mood. The next track ‘Sky Kisses Earth’ comes with numerous shades and layers the band is known to put together, the mid-tempo groove gives ample space for the multi-instrumentalist to play over one-by-one. ‘Trust’ has Joshua picking selective notes on the sitar over spellbinding Carnatic percussions – don’t miss this one, no matter what! The last track Funky Guru is groovy and has the epochal Guru Brahma Guru Vishu Guru Devo Maheswara chant presented in the funkiest way possible – this one may seem like a soundtrack of a crossover film.
Overall, the album is of a ‘contemplative’ and ‘relaxed’ mood. Being one of the most travelled musicians, it’s quite clear that Prem Joshua can do fusion with an authority that others can’t. On his many travelogues, Joshua was exposed to varied cultures and their sounds – and thus, he blends a lot of contrasting genres with ease.
Musician Prem Joshua has lived a life of a vagabond, a seeker and as a disciple of life. Prem Joshua the band has also gone through several line-up changes after its inception in the late 1980s. Over time, multi-instrumentalist Prem Joshua remained the only constant member of the band. However, for the past three years, there has been stability and continuity. The four member band has Prem joshua, Loopmaster Chintan Relenberg, percussionist Raul Sengupta, and the extraordinary Japanese bassist Satgyan Fakuda.
