Shivkumar Sharma, Brijbushan Kabra and Hariprasad Chaurasia - Call of the Valley (1995)

This album is a wonderful place to begin exploring Indian classical music. Although it uses very non-traditional instrumentation (slide guitar, hammer dulcimer, wooden flute, and tablas), it offers a sort of intermediary between western timbres and Indian song forms.


Indian classical music is very different than what is labeled as classical music in the European tradition. Based around different ragas (which would most closely be approximated as modes), the music is heavily improvised. But, you really don't need to know the mechanics of what's going on to appreciate this beautiful music.

If you dig this and want more suggestions, lemme know in the comments.

8 Responses so far.

  1. andy says:

    This is an incredible album, seriously one of those discs that etched deep into my consciousness when I first heard it in the mid 90's. Thanks for sharing and reminding me of it.

  2. how do i submit my music to be reviewed? soundcloud.com/alecksawklr facebook.com/aleckslives
    i jus came out with a ep, its free, 8 tracks about 20 minutes

  3. edlorado says:

    thanks for this!Great musicians!

  4. Brian! says:

    this is some top shit....any more you could suggest?

  5. Will says:

    @brian!
    I really like Hariprasad Chaurasia's (the flute player) other work--"Four Duns" is a nice CD, and worth picking up.
    Ravi Shankar is pretty well known, but also fantastic and so so worth getting into. "Sitar Works" by him is particuarly fun.
    One of my favorite big compilations of Indian classical music is the "Raga Guide", which comes with a great book on the music, as well as a gazillion musical examples.
    http://www.amazon.com/Raga-Guide-Survey-Hindustani-Ragas/dp/B00000JT5P/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1321206565&sr=8-1
    Can't recomend this enough--I'd upload it, but it's four disks, and the book that comes with it is too vital to make it worthwhile.

  6. Brian! says:

    Thanks for the heads up Will. I found a DL online that gave me a sample...one song from each disk and it sounds amazing.

    Cheers.
    B

  7. Unknown says:

    this is amazing - thank you. more like this please. felt my soul grow listening to this..

  8. I'd love some more Indian Classical/Carnatic music or whatever, i'm really interested in it but don't really know where to start. So yes! more of this!

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