Customer Reviews

The Crossing

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This was the album that first turned Jerry Garcia on to Sanjay Mishra. A rich blend of Western and North Indian classical music, this recording produces an effect which can only be described as hypnotic. Musical landscapes such as "Takes Two To..." and "By Twilight" literally transport the listener into other worlds with the help of Indian female vocalists and the sitar-like sarod, as well as the rhythmic accompaniment of tablas and framedrums. The title track, "The Crossing," is a must-listen-to for its seamless fusion of East and West, a veritable Satie "Gymnopedie" meets Hindustani raga.

This is Mishra's debut album- and he shows his ability to play the guitar as well as work with sound in a studio. While maintaining cohesiveness, Sanjay explores many tonal and compositional structures; from the nervous and humorous "Killer B's" to the gentle "Manali", Mishra uses experimental effects with classical sensibility to create an enjoyable album.

There are many varieties that come under this broad term-often in world fusion the convention is that an oriental/eastern musician joins an occidental one and together they blend each others musics-in most cases one knows little about the others music, so it always remains seperate from each other and sounds like that This has proven to be very successful, and there are some examples where this has been done very well indeed. Another more subtle form of fusion is when it happens within the artists psyche as a result of his or training, which is more than one style of music, and in Mishra's case obviously Western and Indian, and to the end that it is internal and flows from within it is more natural in a sense. Here the instruments are not of that much importance but rather what they play-Mishra is an artist that explores this vein of world fusion and I share this excitement with others who own this CD

I read a review in a guitar magazine that described this CD as brilliant and original, so I bought it, And it lived up to the hype....The liner notes say that Jerry Garcia played with Mishra after hearing this-I can see why-Mr.Garcia's taste was always impeccable and the spirit free-this CD has that. I also notethat Mr. Mishra immigrated to The US as an exceptional artist! Atleast the immigration service is not all bad!