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Tabla
Beat Science
Live in San Francisco at Stern
Grove
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Featuring master
percussionist Zakir Hussain, with
Ustad Sultan Khan (sarangi and vocals)
Ejigayehu "Gigi" Shibabaw (vocals)
Bill Laswell (bass)
Karsh Kale (drums, tabla)
DJ Disk (turntables)
Midival Punditz (electronics)
Fabian Alsultany (synthesizers) |
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Unpredictability is
often the soul of a live performance, especially
when it arises from an entirely new fusion
of genres and cultures. So it happened that
on August 12, 2001, in this same spirit of
the unexpected, a group of high-caliber musicians
under the name Tabla Beat Science convened
outdoors among the towering eucalyptus trees
of Stern Grove in San Francisco. Melding traditional
Indian rhythms, African vocal styles, modern
electronics, low-end dub bass and DJ breakbeats
into a two-hour sonic experience, the music
of Tabla Beat Science left an indelible mark
on the thousands of people who were there
to witness it. Live in San Francisco at Stern
Grove (Axiom/Palm) recaptures the electricity
of that day, and continues in what has become
a tradition of monumental live recordings
that bear the ineffable stamp of a Bay Area
event, from Carlos Santana's Live at the Fillmore
to Miles Davis' Black Beauty and beyond.
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"I was definitely trying
to emulate that sound, especially Miles' live
sound from the early '70s, and to make it
even larger," says bassist/producer Bill Laswell
about the mixing process. "What's crucial
is having that energy in the original performance,
where you know everyone is feeling it on stage.
If you don't have that, no matter how many
times you mix it or how you manipulate the
tape later on, it will never sound right.
We were all pretty relaxed - we actually had
a day to rehearse a few ideas, which is a
rarity - and we had the right energy and the
right atmosphere. We didn't edit or overdub
anything in the studio; everything you hear
is as it was played." |
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Tabla Beat Science
began as a collaborative studio project between
Indian-born tabla maestro Zakir Hussain and
Bill Laswell, and has since grown to embrace
a loose configuration of artists and a sub-culture
of its own. The Tala Matrix CD, released on
Axiom/Palm in September 2000, features "tablatronics"
pioneer Talvin Singh (whose solo debut OK
had won the UK's prestigious Mercury Prize
the previous year), as well as impeccably
recorded performances from vocalist and sarangi
master Sultan Khan, Bombay percussionist and
jazz veteran Trilok Gurtu, and Brooklyn-based
drummer and producer Karsh Kale. The record
drew praise from press and audiences alike,
prompting The New York Times to rave, Ïthe
music is too aggressive to be ambient and
too abstract for the dance floor; itÌs a genuine
fusion that pours energy into the air, pauses
to meditate and then rushes forward again.Ó
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Live in San Francisco
at Stern Grove reunites four of the core contributors
to Tala Matrix and develops several pieces
from that record into fully expanded live
dub excursions, taking a cue from the Jamaican
"dub style" that has had such a profound influence
on rhythm sections today. The frenetic cut-time
beats of drum-n-bass represent the modern
offshoot of that style, and this is where
the artistry of Zakir Hussain's tabla comes
into full effect. From the long meditative
duet with Sultan Khan called "Taaruf" that
opens the set, he segues with a flurry into
"Sacred Channel," an aggressive re-working
of the Tala Matrix track "Secret Channel".
Suddenly, hypnotic waves of pulsating low-end
dub - connected by a seamless exchange of
hyper-accelerated chops between Hussain, Laswell
and Karsh Kale - take the sound of the tabla
from the ancient past into an electric future.
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The worlds of East
Africa and the Asian subcontinent merge with
surprising harmony in "Nafeke³," the signature
song of Ejigayehu "Gigi" Shibabaw. Singing
in her native Amharic tongue from Ethiopia,
Gigi renders the vocal melody with jubilation,
and is joined on the microphone by an inspired
Sultan Khan, his voice as hauntingly beautiful
as that of his multi-stringed sarangi. Khan
Sahib (as he is known among friends and admirers
in Mumbai, India) later takes the vocal spotlight
for himself in "Magnetic Dub," a version of
another Tala Matrix track that brings a lilting
sarangi line together with undulating bass
to close the first set on a euphoric high.
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The second set offers
a taste of breakbeat culture as DJ Disk steps
out on "Tala Matrix". Known in the Bay Area
for his collaborations with Q-Bert and Mixmaster
Mike, and as a founding member of the now-legendary
Invisibl Skratch Picklz turntablist crew,
Disk cuts his way into a raga of his own,
with Hussain following his every move on various
percussive instruments and Laswell and Kale
coming in with a pulsating backbeat. The progressive
electronic thread is then taken up by the
Delhi-based production duo Midival Punditz,
whose Bollywood-sounding drum loops and string
orchestrations weave their way through "Trajic".
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By the time Gigi takes
the stage again on "Mengedegna," everyone
- musicians and audience alike - seems to
sense that something completely new is being
created here. And when the bhangra-tinged
"Devotional Dub" draws the audience into its
own rhythmic accompaniment, the music floating
on a chorus of handclaps, it's clear that
whatever may have been unplanned about this
performance has somehow solidified into the
feeling of freedom and soul that a truly live
event brings.
Tabla Beat Science Live in San Francisco at
Stern Grove is a perfect crystallization of
the eclectic energy that is the spirit of
San Francisco. |
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| Copyright © 2002
PALM PICTURES. All rights Reserved. |
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