{"id":4634,"date":"2007-08-07T10:37:51","date_gmt":"2007-08-07T15:37:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com?p=4634"},"modified":"2007-08-07T08:51:49","modified_gmt":"2007-08-07T13:51:49","slug":"review_new_cd_f","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/2007\/08\/07\/review_new_cd_f\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: new CD from Falu"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"falu.jpg\"<\/a> People interested in Asian Underground music have probably already heard of Falu<\/a>, a singer who first appeared on Karsh Kale’s<\/a> Realize<\/em> back in 2001. Since then she’s been featured on a number of other people’s CDs<\/a>, but today she releases her own, self-titled CD. Rather than going for more in the way electronic beats, here Falu works with a live rock\/desi fusion band, doing a mix of English and Hindi\/Urdu songs.<\/p>\n\n

It’s a strong first effort. Falu has trained in Hindustani classical music with Ustad Sultan Khan<\/a>, and there are several nice Hindi\/Urdu tracks on the CD. The strongest is certainly her version of “O Lal Meri” (aka, “Dama Dam Mast Qalandar”); here the music is traditional, and Falu gets to really show off her Qawwali chops. I found Falu’s version of Asha Bhosle’s “Dum Maro Dum”<\/strong> less exciting, perhaps because I’m too attached to the original — and to Asha Bhosle’s voice (still, Falu’s rock\/fusion band seems to be having a good time rocking out a bit here). Also good are “Rabba” and “Poojan.” Ustad Sultan Khan himself shows up playing Sarangi on two tracks, and he joins in the vocals to “Copper Can.”<\/p>\n\n

Thus far, I’ve been somewhat less excited by the English language songs on the CD, though there are some notable exceptions. The lyrics to “Without You” are a mix of English and Urdu, and it’s intriguing to hear Falu do Qawwali-esque vocal trills on the English as well as the Urdu parts of the song. “Hey Baby” is entirely in English (albeit with a desi musical touch), though from listening to the lyrics it occurred to me that Falu is replicating in a secular, English, rock idiom the themes that are also prevalent Qawwali music: longing, desire, and the inaccessibility of the beloved. The difference, of course, is that in Urdu the longing is for God, while in English the longing is for a lover. (Note: you can listen to “Hey Baby” on Falu’s Myspace page<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n

You can get this CD at Falu’s website<\/a>; it’s also available on Itunes and at Amazon. Readers in the New York area might want to hit the CD release party<\/strong> at Canal Room tomorrow (more details here<\/a>). I won’t be able to go; perhaps Falu and her band will come to Philly sometime…<\/p>\n\n

[Disclosure: the folks at Press Here music sent me a review copy of this CD.<\/em>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

People interested in Asian Underground music have probably already heard of Falu, a singer who first appeared on Karsh Kale’s Realize back in 2001. Since then she’s been featured on a number of other people’s CDs, but today she releases … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4634"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4634"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4634\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}