Apologies Folks!I did not find an appropriate head or sub head for this review. So I am putting it under this head.
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As I sit to type this review on RHYDHUN, I m actually having the earphones of my walkman in my ear, listening to the same. I know that I have put up that I wont be writing any reviews until may but the music made me write about it. So I might just keep coming up with such short reviews time & again until May. I know that this review will not get me high ratings but still I felt I must put it up.
For a person like me who likes percussion music a lot, this album is a must hear. This album is a dedication to Ustad Alla Rakha by his youngest son Taufiq Quereshi. This guy has got real talent. Of course music runs in the blood. Tabla is the bread & butter for his family. How lucky will the other members of the family be to be listening to the bets tabla artists in the world daily. Even their Riyaz will be like a concert.
Taufiq has played 20 instruments in this album in addition to giving his voice. I d like to list a few. Tabla, Electronic Drums, Batajon, Wooden Duffs, Big drums, Temple Bells, Morsing, Darabuka, Gongs, Wooden Boxes, Chanda, Berimbau, Kafimba etc. haven’t even heard of half these instruments.
Now bout the album. This consists of 8 sequences & each one is a master piece. I’ll mention a few.
The Tree Of Rhydhun: This is a rare piece coz u have the Tabla maestro Ustad Alla Rakha lend his voice on his favorite Dhrupad composition in a 5 beat composition called the Sulfakta. Also its for the first time that the father & 3 sons Zakir Fazal & Taufiq have recorded together. The sad part is that within a month of the completion of recordings of this album, they lost their sister & 2 days later the maestro himself. This was the Ustad last recording.
Rhy-Dhun: This is an unusual piece done by Shankar Mahadevan & Taufiq. When I first heard this piece, I told my friend that there was some different kind of instrument used. When I picked up the brochure to my amazement I found that it is all vocals & no instrument. The title reads Rhydhun-Nothing but voice.
The Rhy In You: This one is a percussion with his band Surya. Body Percussion has been used along with drums. Body Percussion means use of body parts for creating sound.
Jiji Rhy: The rhythms of Maharashtrian Lezim has been used. This has been coupled with Lavni & Gondhad played by Lezim percussionists. The vocals are of a Marathi folk song. This is a common feature in most of Zakir’s concerts. The same group from Kolhapur play the opening welcome sequence && they are a treat to hear . This is my personal favorite in this album.
½ to 16: Here we have violin Maestro L.Shankar doing his part along with Zakir, Taufiq & Geetika(Taufiq’s wife). Cant explain the title for you folks because it is about the number of beats.ie going from half beat to 16 beats. However this is an amazing piece of percussion.
It is not that the other pieces in the album are bad but I don’t have much to write about them. All the magic is when u listen to it. However it is not that every person will like this album. But a person with a taste for percussion will love it. For the information of all you folks this album did not do that well in the market. May be it lacked the required marketing! The other album on percussion I loved was Colours by Zakir & the violin maestro from the south Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan.