Customer Reviews

You've Stolen My Heart: Songs from R.D. Burman's Bollywood

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a strange production: the famous string quartet's take on R.D. Burman's music left me rather confused at first. But I do like it more and more as I keep discovering very interesting nuances in the musical fabric.
My introduction to Kronos was through the violent soundtrack to Requiem for a Dream, and I was hoping for something radical here, a jazzy classical Bollywood fusion, but they almost disappear in the mix. The first question may be "Where's Kronos?"
I have been listening to Bollywood soundtracks for years; it's not easy getting these CDs in India, with 100 plus new movies out every month, anything older than a year is hard to find, and they are still relying on tape a lot, but thanks to wonders of technology leapfrogging, you can buy CDs of mp3 tracks, as did on my recent trips. Now my Bollywood playlist has hundreds of songs, from good ol' Kishore Kumar to all the latest flicks, and this Kronos outing would blend in there just fine.
And that's the problem- some tracks on this CD sound just like the originals, especiallly Dum Maro Dum. But there are some enhancements, too subtle to pick up at first: strange sound of the instruments, old fashion keyboards adding surreal touch, dissonances and weird sounds- elephants, occasional laughter, and a wicked James Bond thing in Saiyan Re Saiyan, plus that woozy feel of string quartet gone native.
Asha Bhosle's voice is as good as ever- her and her sister, the great Lata Mangeshkar are like Placido Domingos of the Indian music, and will only retire when they are 120 years old. And I really loved the subdued, instrumental Mehbooba Mehbooba- if you know the raunchy original version, from the Sholay movie soundtrack, it's something new and different.
In essence, Kronos have stripped these compositions, leaving the skeleton and adding their own subtle colors. Nothing radical- but it is a gentle, tickling listening pleasure...
Once you have ingested a whole lot of mainstream Bollywood songs and yearn for something new and interesting, you should get A.R. Rahman's Dil Se soundtrack and start exploring the brave new world of remixes, but if this music is new 4U, Stolen Heart will serve as a great Bollywood appetizer, and a very tasty Kronos dish, all at once.

Now in her early 60s, Asha Bhosle's voice has matured since the heyday of her Bollywood career in the 60s-70s and in these reworkings of some of her greatest hits (written by her late husband R.K.Burman) it's positively honey-like. The collaboration with Kronos Quartet is inspired: substitute electronically enhanced violins for Duane Eddy guitars and you have an inkling of the ideas flying around the disc. The liner notes are informative and there's plenty of information for the Bollywood novice. However, whether you understand Hindi or not, this is a collection of songs - humorous, romantic, tacky, and at times so hilariously naff in the way of Indian homages to western pop it's actually cool! I would be amazed if you don't want to keep going back to it, once heard.

What a wildly salacious turn of music from the dynamic Kronos Quartet! Just when I thought I had them pigeonholed (lazy thinking on my part) they come up with something like this which radically rearranges my conception of what I previously thought they were capable of. Kudos! 5 stars.

Some vocalists are one-of-a-kind, brilliant and beautiful, setting the standard for their particular music. Asha Bhosle is one of them. I heard her with the Kronos in performance in San Francisco, and they took my breath away. This album isn't quite the same as being there but it's very, very close. Asha, Kronos - please do it again!

...just a short review to help cancel the weight of the ridiculous one star review below...Kronos Quartet...impossible to categorize...always worthwhile...one of the few groups that I would buy their CDs without a prior listen...have never been disappointed...kudos...

i was anxious to find about the album and ever since could'nt wait to put my hands on. Truly a great way, very innovative violin pieces put together to tribute the LEGEND. Being an Indian take equal pride in celebrating the moment to honor the all time legend R.D. BURMAN. He's all time great and no doubt an insitution of music.

I love Asha Bhosle and one only has to listen to her Live at the Albert Hall album. Problem is, she has aged, and her voice shows it. Regrettably, her vocals on this album constantly remind me of this and I can't listen to the album with pleasure. I would say the same of such wonderful singers as June Carter and Amalia Mendoza. This was a wonderful opportunity to introduce much of the world to the zaniness of Bollywood movie music, with its fabulous arrangements and wacky use of all imaginable instruments from all over the world. Instead it makes me sad to hear Asha not at her peak.

Chronos has always emphasized being clever over being musical- although they are splendid musicians- and this album is perhaps the ultimate exegesis of that. The actual music is perhaps exotic, to western ears, but it is also uninteresting. Indian film music combines the sound of the East with the banality of pop, and the result isn't anything that bears more than one listening; personally, I was continually reminded of the incidental Indian-themed music that kept popping up in the Beatles' movie "Help", although that soundtrack was a bit more clever. Another volume for the library of the die-hard Chronos fan, perhaps, but not necessarily anyone alse.

KRONOS QUARTET CAN DO ANYTHING and they did it Superbly here.

I dont know how the kronos quartet to come down so low. The music is cheap. I couldn't hear any of the tracks completely. They were so insipid.Complete waste of money. I have heard much better from Asha.