Today’s featured album is a blend of Eastern and Western traditions coming by multi-Grammy winner Kabir Sehgal and sarodists Ayaan Ali Bangash and Amaan Ali Bangash. The trio blend together Western sounds inspired from jazz, trap, electro and rap and blend them with traditional Indian instruments, harmonies and vocals to bring to our ears a truly exceptional album. Inspired by the text of Lebanese-American writer Kahlil Gibran, Sand and Foam: Music Inspired by Kahlil Gibran is an album that, like the works of the author that inspired it, reflects on a deep level the relationship between East and West, showing how their interaction may bring us something unique.
Almost all of the tracks of the album are taken directly from Kahlil Gibran’s works. Kabir Sehgal uses his production talent to create a neo-synth, jazz and trap music that generates perfectly a mystical atmosphere which represents the Western tradition of music. On the other side, Amaan Ali Bangash and Ayaan Ali Bangash bring the East with their sarods, representing the classical Indian music traditon. For the trio, music is the language of the spirit and a form of bringing peace to it. As it speaks directly to the soul, it allows for them to erase these imaginary boundaries and bring the two traditions together. Joining them is a huge array of artists which include the vocals of Claudia Acuña and Malini Aswathi Sudha Raghunanthan, the saxophones of Tivon Pennicott and Oran Etkins,
“Taking as inspiration from the master of timeless wisdom, Khalil Gibran’s illustrious works, especially in current times, I feel that his thoughts are so very relevant. It was something we collectively wanted to execute musically. Literally as Gibran says, ‘solitude is a silent storm that breaks down all our dead branches; yet it sends our living roots deeper into the living heart of the living earth.’ I am so honored to have been a part of this process.” Ayaan Ali Bangash. “I grew up reading the works of Kahlil Gibran. His writings are boundless and borderless. Instead of focusing on our differences, Gibran recognized our shared humanity. In making this album, we blended borders. We fused genres into something more fluid, awakening a new aesthetic, which brings us together.” Kabir Sehgal
Sand and Foam takes its inspiration from various spheres from the East and the West. While the most evident one is the blend between electro-synth and classical Indian music, the listener will find surprises in the album. For example, clarinets and saxophones play jazz licks alongside the sarods in “The Wanderer”, trip-hop in “Fable of the Forerunner” “Spirits Rebellious” and rap and spoken word take a center stage in “Prophets of Prose”. But the trio finds the perfect harmony between East and West. “Mirrors of the Soul” takes traditional Indian singing and puts it against a backdrop of drum and bass, “Jaipur Festival” bases itself on traditional Indian harmony based on liberty of rhythms and the presence of microtones but is given a twist with scratch music. “A Tear and a Smile” is a mystical track which puts Ayaan Ali Bangash and Amaan Ali Bangash in centers stage alongside traditional vocals. It closes the album in a sweet and introspective way.
Sand And Foam: Music Inspired by Kahlil Gibran, is a special album by Ayaan Ali Bangash, Amaan Ali Bangash and Kabir Sehgal, that, like the ouvre of the album, reminds us of what humanity is capable of. By blending Western and Eastern traditions through music, they make us realize that even though they may seem to be differences between cultures, we are one and the same.
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It also helps to stream and share this music; you can obviously find it in the following Playlists: Less Than 1,000 Followers, Fresh Singles, Chill – Folk – Acoustic, Contemporary Jazz, 12 New Songs This Week, Track Of The Day, and Take It Easy.
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This coverage was created via MusoSoup #Sustainablecurator
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