Big Issue in the North

   UK 18th April 2005.

   ASIAN PROVOCATEUR, Big Issue in the North, UK, 18th April 2005. By- Raees Khan

Debashish Bhattacharya is Descried by many as one of the world's foremost guitar maestros. By the age of four, the Kolkata ( Calcutta) - born musician gave his first major concert on All India Radio and at 40 he was made a Pandit, or musical master.
 
This is his latest offering to world music, a perfectly executed celebration of his duet of trinities. The first, his unique three finger plucking technique, and the second being the three guitars he personally designed for the album, each representing a different generation of instrument.
 
Typical of any offering of ragas, the album consists of fewer tracks at a much longer length. Bhattacharya breaks the mould when it comes to ragas. Though he impeccably sticks to the rhythm patterns, never missing a beat of Nata Raaj ( Dance of Shiva), the man who could be seen as the Indian embodiment of JIMI Hendrix achieves new heights of hypnotic and mantic pleasure. 
 
The most prominent track is without a doubt Maha Shakti ( Beyond the Sun). As raga trading often dictates, the track begins with a slow opening known as the Vilambit or Alaap. Here, elongated notes sigh and wail as Bhattacharya magically plucks the guitar strings, eventually moving into the Madhalay where we pick up enforce a speedier rhythm. Finally furlong, the Drut. Here the beat pounds rhythmically into your skull as the ecstatic melodies take over your mind, body and soul. It's really saying something when the first five minutes of an 18-minute track has you drooling in ecstasy.
 
Subhasis Bhattacharjee is awesome on tabla, a pairing that is undoubtedly a partnership of Lenon-Mccartney proportions, in world music circles, of course.
 
Sadly, someone unaware of what to expect from Indian ragas would probably see this as the proverbial deep end.
 
Chances are, anyone who isn't either of South-Asian origin or a world music connoisseur would probably this repetitive and almost too stereotypical of what they would expect to hear while stoned and caked in mud at a sixties music festival.