The rhythm of Indian music is geared to long cycles often 16 beats. These recurring cycles are know as tala. Eack tala has a different type of emphasis, which can give rise to an almost limitless amount of possibilities. no wonder that Indian percussionists can study 16 hrs a day for years and years in order to master the thousands of possible percussive patterns or what might be called "The Tala Matrix".
Take an Indian tabla master like Zakhir Hussain or Talvin Singh. Theoritically they would play more rhythmic talas that any drum machine is capable of. What if u pushed the tabla out in front of the audio mix so that they essentially became the extroverted soloist then filled in the supporting players with a combination of traditional Indian drone and with a collection of ambient musical sculptures around Bill Laswell. You would have the group known as Tabla Beat Science.
The material on Tala Matrix ranges from the very traditional to very modern ambient world fusion. There is the classical sounding "Devotional" featuring sarangi and vocal by Ustad Sultan Khan, with just a hint of Rhythmic augmentation from Bill Laswell. At the other end of the spectrum, there's the modern Dj club remix "Triangular Objects". Call it Indian House Music. Karsh kale moves to the Dj underground. Zakir Hussain moves along the more traditional routes of Indian music, yet he is strong enough to focus the most far-out ambient trance sounds that Bill Laswell can come up with. Talvin Singh contributes 2 tracks "Dont Worry.Com" and "Triangular Objects" , which are in the "future groove" vein. Tala Matrix is an adventurous blend of Indian groove music that should find its most enthusiastic audience among young dance oriented people whether they live in Bombay, London or New York. -Jim.T |
