More than a Brimful

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My favorite quartet (yes, I have such a thing) will be dropping a new CD on August 23rd.  I first fell for the eclectic sounds of Kronos because of the soundtrack to the 1995 movie Heat.  SM tipster Niraj informs us that the group’s new album titled You’ve Stolen My Heart: Song’s from R.D. Burman’s Bollywood will feature Asha Bhosle.  Take a listen.

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From the fantastical land of India’s “Bollywood,” the world’s largest film industry, comes the music of the Kronos Quartet’s latest CD-a vibrant homage to the pre-eminent composer of classic Bollywood, Rahul Dev “R.D.” Burman. In more than 300 film scores, Burman entranced audiences with melodies steeped in intrigue, festooned with jewels, and stained with tears and henna-an eclecticism mirrored in ever-surprising combinations of Indian classical and folk music, swing jazz, psychedelic rock, circus music, can-can, mariachi, and more. You’ve Stolen My Heart finds Kronos in the eminent company of Bollywood playback singer Asha Bhosle, Burman’s wife and the most recorded artist in the world, who contributes new vocal performances to 8 of the CD’s 12 tracks. Inspired by the chameleonic spirits of Burman and Bhosle, Kronos ventures into novel instrumental territory on this disc-the first to be produced by quartet founder David Harrington-augmenting its acoustic sound with keyboards, gongs, cymbals, mouth percussion, and more. Kronos is also joined by longtime collaborators Zakir Hussain (tablas, trap drums) and Wu Man (Chinese pipa), completing this musical masala of eras and cultures.

1. Dum Maro Dum – Take Another Toke
2. Rishte Bante Hain – Relationships Grow Slowly
3. Mehbooba Mehbooba – Beloved, O Beloved
4. Ekta Deshlai Kathi Jwalao – Light a Match
5. Nodir Pare Utthchhe Dhnoa – Smoke Rises Across the River
6. Koi Aaya Aane Bhi De – If People Come
7. Mera Kuchh Saaman – Some of My Things
8. Saajan Kahan Jaoongi Main – Beloved, Where Would I Go?
9. Piya Tu Ab To Aaja – Lover, Come to Me Now
10. Dhanno Ki Aankhon – In Dhanno’s Eyes
11. Chura Liya Hai Tum Ne – You’ve Stolen My Heart
12. Saiyan Re Saiyan – My Lover Came Silently

Kronos will be playing in the UCLA Live concert series on Sat Sept. 24th in case anybody would like to go see them with me.

12 thoughts on “More than a Brimful”

  1. This is pretty cool. Kronos has done some great Phillip Glass stuff, much of which was used to score the doc “How to Draw a Bunny” about mail art progenitor Ray Johnson. Both the album and the movie are worth checking out for Kronos fans.

  3. This sounds excellent. Although some of the song choices are too obvious or campy. Do we really need to hear a string quartet version of “Piya Tu Ab To Aja?” Why not a classic burner like “Do Lafzon Ki Hai Dil Ki Kahani”? Well you could argue this for days.

  4. Very interesting find. From the two songs that they offer to preview, it looks like they haven’t strayed very far from the originals. I’d personally prefer it if they did, because I could always do with less high-pitched female vocals and cheesy string-orchestrations. Still, I look forward to hearing the rest of the album.

  6. I am sorry, but there is no redeeming quality to this “interpretation” of the greatest Hindi film music ever made. I have heard better versions in college music festivals in India. If I were a musician, I would find it insulting to play such drivel, let alone market it for $19.95 or whatever it costs to buy one of these things.

  7. doesn’t sound very different from the original, though i prefer asha’s smokier voice in this version of dum maro dum. the other song i’ve never heard, and it was probably a nice song, now totally ruined by asha bhosle’s relentless mispronunciations of every other bengali word in it – and she doesn’t even mispronounce consistently. awful. someone should sue her.

  8. the first song (dum..0 sounds just like the original, except asha’s voice is smokier now. if she didn’t murder the bengali pronunciation in the second, it might have been quite a cool song – it is a cool song, it’s just that someone should sue her for murdering the words.