Bageshree.

I have been listening to this one album for a few weeks. I got to know about it on MIO around 2+ years ago... Seems that one of the tracks was popular in India, and rest were not even know. I had to order it from Canada to LA, and picked it up there in December.



A little about the singer/composer, Bageshree Vaze.

So this lady is, from what I can gather, born in India, and has lived in Canada for a long time. Has learnt Indian Classical Music from some great people, and has a lot of music in her family. Oh and she is a classical dancer, which shows in her music. And last but not the least, she is Marathi!!

The thing I like about her music is that it is fresh. You probably have not heard anything like this before. There is some typical raag based vocal improvisation, some dance beats and bols, a lot of western musical structures and instruments. A few synth instruments, and oh ya, really great use of sitar! And her voice, a little rustic, reminds me a little of Shubha Mudgal. It goes in very nicely used with the rest of the instruments, especially the synths.

So its kinda fusionistic, but I really hate to use that word, cos its been overused. Unfortunaltely, I am a sucker for such 'fusionistic' stuff.

Fusionistic?? You know, stuff with some indian instruments (generally for the lead), and western instruments (like for the base). A raag based melody and some other stuff thrown in, like the tabla solos or kathak bols (like in this case) or some vocal improvisations and mixed lyrics in English and some other language.

So I'll run a review of that album in the next week, with some samples that hopefully can get off some place I found long long time ago. Try it out!. Though buying it is gonna be a little difficult, I can lend it to you if you wanna listen.