Samwad

stunning.....:
Samwad is probably one of the best Indian classical CDs I've heard in a long while - I cannot claim to be any expert - but I have listened to Indian classical music for many years, and am a fan of the Ravi Shankar and Alla Rakha pairing. Over the years I have also taken in the Asian Massive movement - like Tabla Beat Science (Bill Laswell and Zakir Hussain - who is the son of Alla Rakha). The music on Samwad is played by two young leading lights - Kala Ramnath (violin) and Purbayan Chatterjee (sitar) in a rare Jugalbandi (instrumental duet) - the interplay is simply stunning. I am particularly taken with Kala Ramnath's playing and tone - it is exquisite - unlike any violin playing I've heard - and that includes the true greats in Western classical music. Her tonality has to be heard to be believed - it has a very "vocal" quality - listen to the opening slow Alap. I know this is classical music of India - but I listen to it in a very different way to the almost "reverence" of Western classical - there is an element of unbridled enthusiasm, exhilarating - approaching the ecstatic. But this is what good music is about - it should move you.... Listen to the interchange starting at about 5:30 on track 3 - especially Kala's violin phrase at 6:42 - to see what I mean. The tabla playing by Subhankar Banerjee is nothing short of breathtaking as well - I say this being a fan of the fabulous Alla Rakha - Ravi Shankar's principle tabla player for decades. This is a CD that is well worth listening to - I find myself almost obsessive about it inspite of owning it for over a year - and this is rare and outstanding for me considering I have so much good Indian classical music in my collection. It appears this CD is not currently available from Amazon USA or its associate vendors - a pity - since as far as I know the CD is still current according to the Sense World Music label website. It is however available via Amazon MarketPlace (and over at Amazon.co.UK) - and it's worth chasing this CD down. If you are already familiar with this CD - Kala Ramnath's CD titled "Kala" is also well worth considering - this also pairs her with Subhankar Banerjee on tabla.

Caveat emptor...:
The music here is excellent. However, there is a problem with the 3rd track on amazon.com. Although it should be 14:25 as listed on this website, the mp3 is fragmentary and only 1:11 long. Until/unless this is fixed... just view this as a three-track album. If you want to buy it for tracks 1, 2, & 4, do so; it's still worth getting for those tracks. Just don't expect to get track 3.