Filament

American musician Shankar Tucker’s debut album “Filament” combines Indian traditional music with elements of jazz.Tucker discovered the Indian group “Shakti,” while studying at Berklee School of Music, where his focus was the clarinet. He went on to pursue his interest in Indian music, created a successful YouTube channel and worked with young musicians in India. He then went the Kickstarter route and crowdsourced money to create this album.

Play any track. They all work.

1. Fast-paced & delightful Hindustani track by Ankita Joshi.
2-5 Suite for the Moon by with Devendra Pal Singh starts off with Aalap or the opening section.
3. Think of it in scatting in Hindustani style & that is how this track opens.Fast & moderate.
4. Singh picks up pace & rhythm in this delightful section. Fast.
5. Tillana is the end piece played at the end of Carnatic or South Indian classical concert. Tarana is the term used for the end piece in Hindustani or North Indian classical concert. By using Tillana Tucker underscores the North/South Indian & the jazz components of this track.
6. Starts off in a gentle way with Tucker’s clarinet wafting in followed by Vijay Prakash’s vocals. The title The Heart’s Prayer captures the quite essence of the song.
7. Slow percussion/guitar intro & then Nikhita Gandhi’s voice kicks in & captures the swaying rhythm of a boat in “River Song.”
8. HN Bhaskar’s beautiful piece on the violin is an intro “Aalap” to the next track.
9. Slow & beautiful piece that builds up to fast-paced finale.This track showcase the traditional & modern influences that Tucker tries to capture in this album.
10. Slow track. Shaktrishree Gopalan (vocals in Tamil) with piano/electric guitar/clarinet.
11. Tucker in Clarinet solo. Slow & haunting.Meditation is the name of the track.
12. Fair Ahmed Faiz is a well-known Urdu poet. Nirali Kartik on vocals.
13. Infectious boat song from Kerala, the Southern state that is gateway to the spice trade from India. Job Kurian on vocals accompanied by sax,trumpet,clarinet,cajon.
14. Vidya Iyer on vocals. Soulful & beautiful song on liberation. Accompanied by guitar,piano,clarinet.

Kamla July 2015