Mahima

Debashish Bhattacharya

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 30, 2003)
• Original Release Date: June 17, 2003
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Riverboat
• ASIN: B000092PTY
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #48,426 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

While American bluesman would probably like to believe otherwise, the slide guitar has been developed in many cultures. The earliest reports of Hawaiian slide guitar come from 1876, while Indian culture can trace the use of a slide instrument upon strings back to the 11th century. American guitarist Bob Brozman has explored Hawaiian slide deeply and jammed his way around the world, delving into different cultures and finding common musical threads. Here he is joined by India's Debashish Bhattacharya on Hindustani slide guitar, his brother Subhashis on tabla and an array of percussion, and sister Sutapa on vocals. Ranging from the more classical Indian music "Maa" to the riff-heavy "Tagore Street Blues" to the positively rockin' "Bana Mali," the guitarists duel with an open approach that blurs all lines of division, while Sutapa and Subhashis stick closer to the Indian traditions. Like a Bollywood flick about a back-country blues guitarist, Mahima is ragas and 16-bar blues, simultaneously alien and somehow not so far from the American folk form. --Tad Hendrickson

Product Description

The distinctive sound of the slide guitar is an intrinsic feature in blues, Hawaiian and Indian music. On Mahima, these traditions meet in the capable hands of two of the world’s greatest slide guitarists, Debashish Bhattacharya and Bob Brozman. In the process, the two have created a true hybrid, a spectacular union of guitarists on a unique album, which also showcases the vocal talents of Sutapa Bhattacharya and tabla master Subhashis Bhattacharya.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is what it's all about, June 21, 2003

By	Pharoah S. Wail (Inner Space) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

"OH MY GOD!!"

That was what left my lips most frequently upon my first listen to this album. After having this for a few days now (which translates to 6 complete listenings), unless something beyond miraculous happens later in the year, this is my choice for Album Of The Year.

If you're familiar with Debashish, you know that he has Hindustanified his guitar. On a few tracks of this cd we get to hear his newer, also Hindustanified guitar. This is THE GUITAR! Debashish's tone on this thing is stunning. I don't know how he did it, but he has succeeded in creating an instrument whose tone (along with his touch and taste) has all the best aspects of the tones of both the sarangi and the acoustic guitar. This is the most sonorous, gorgeous tone I have ever heard emanate from a guitar. I hope he records some complete raga performances for the India Archive label with this guitar. The world needs 78 uninterrupted minutes of him playing this guitar!

Aside from Debashish's new guitar, the other "discovery" for me on this cd was Debashish and Subhashish's sister, Sutapa. I didn't even know they had a sister but she is an excellent singer and is featured prominently here on several tracks (singing in one or more languages of India). Asha Bhosle, watch out!! If there is another family on earth as musically talented as the trio of Debashish (guitar), Subhashish (tabla, percussion), and Sutapa (vocals), I have not heard them. Even this family seems too good to be true.

Now I must praise Bob Brozman. Anyone with a toe in the "world music" industry knows that "East Meets West" types of cd's are an extremely popular gimick. They usually consist of little more than a famous white guy who decidedly CANNOT musically hang with the Eastern musicians, but who gets loads of critical and mainstream acclaim anyway. Why? Usually because said-Westerner has whiteified the "foreigner music" down to such a bland level that it is now palatable to boring Western ears. It happens quite often, but there is one main perpetrator. You all know who I am talking about.

Thankfully the remedy to this problem does walk among us white folks, and his name is Bob Brozman. He may be the one Westerner who embodies what "world music" can and should be. He's not throwing any clout around and sleeping in 4-star hotels while his darker-skinned counterparts sleep on the floor somewhere, only to meet up again the next day in a music studio. Pure human and musical equality. This will be Bob's legacy.

In terms of the individual tracks here, there are many new gems, as well as a couple from the pasts of both Debashish and Bob. Bana Mali (track #6) is Nkaminyo Yelena Ma from the excellent Ocean Blues album by Djeli Moussa Diawara and Bob Brozman. Always one of my favorite tracks on Ocean Blues, here Debashish just blows the roof off of it with his melodic grace, fire, and the tone of his new guitar. From Debashish's past comes track #7, Jibaner Gan. More well-known to me as Song Of Life. We are treated to a fine new version of it here and it's also well worth it to hear the version Debashish and Bob do on Bob's Running Man album. I just have to ask... Bob... why no Debussy In Calcutta??? =)

So what kind of cd is this? Hindustani? No. Hawaiian? No. Blues? No. Again, it's one of those cd's that only a handful of musicians are capable of making. Debashish is a genius. Period. Subhahish is a master tabla player and also shows here that he is a brilliant arranger/all-around percussionist. Sutapa is a gorgeous singer. Then there is Bob. One aspect of Bob's brilliance is the fact that he in no way hog-ties the musicians he plays with. They don't have to hold back, dumb-down, or stoop to a lower level so as to accomodate him. Bob is just THE MAN. His openness and willingness to learn allows anyone he plays with to be free, knowing that he will be right there in the give-and-take.

This music transcends all of its foundational traditions to become something new, equal, and beautiful.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hindustani meets...well...the rest of music, December 26, 2005

By	Marco A. Lemes (Sacramento, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The first reviwer says it all. I was in awe the first time I heard this album, a mix of slide guitar Indian classical music with recognizable rythms of the West. Start with track 8. After you recover yourserlf, go to track 1. Definitely one of the best albums I've ever heard, and I listen to a lot of Hindustani music and other ethnic genre. I recommend owning all Bhattacharya's CDs. He is the Indian oracle of slide guitar.

WARNING! HIGHLY ADDICTIVE!

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow!, July 2, 2003

By A Customer

Can't add much to the previous thorough review, just must say - this CD is one of the finest collaborations in world music. Not a single weak track! And none repeats another. Enjoyable to no end.