Music / jazz

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Reviews (2)


Mojo

2019 August

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Andy Cowan

2019 August

"British jazz pioneer connects with rappers from the South Asian diaspora to ruminate on identity ... Sarathy Korwar pulls no punches on his second studio album. A soul-baring sift through the Indian-born tabla virtuoso's mixed emotions about living in a divided Britain, rendered roughly a decade after he moved to London to study jazz percussion with Sanju Sahai, it uses his elevated platform to shine a light on untapped vocal talents ... [Korwar's] rare talent for corralling empathic musicians (including The Comet Is Coming's Danalogue, Tamar Osborn and Al MacSween) into his rhythmically intense, entrancing vision adds a whole new pin to the Indo-jazz continuum. Its creator says this transcultural banquet was "the chance to send a message". Consider it received: loud and clear".


fRoots

2019 Summer

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Ian Anderson

2019 Summer

"[Korwar's] roots are in Indian classical music and a love of the improvisation of jazz ... This [album] is all about the situation of Indian-rooted people in Brexit UK, crammed with local references, and hard hitting while disguised with lots of wry humour. It uses Indian instruments really creatively in among the electronics and contemporary jazz, and the (...) "MCs" are from Mumbai, Punjab and Jamaica. Nine-minute tour-de-force "Bol" kicks off with Indian harmonium and tablas, features London poet Zia Ahmed, Indian classical singer Aditya Prakash, and strays through Asian Dub Foundation territory into squally jazz qawwali while referencing all points from Brick Lane to The Clash's "Rock The Casbah". It's quite something! And following that, Ahmed shines again on "Mango"'s luscious wordplay over multi-layered percussion and gorgeous sax. And then into galloping alto sax-led Indo-jazz on "City Of Words", which doesn't have any. Brown pride indeed!".