Hot Chills!

And its got nothing to do with Red Hot Chilli Peppers. Its roughly around the other end of the music spectrum, but if Carnatic-flavored fusion / electronica / world music is a genre of interest, then you must check out Carnatic Chills, by Ganesh - Kumaresh. The brothers are violin maestros, and have a long and illustrious career of over 3-decades

…. the ace violin duo of Carnatic Music, hit the headlines in 1972, with their very first stage appearance at the ages of 7 and 5.

Read more on GaneshKumaresh.com

I’ve posted about their album Spark, which is a recording of a live performance at Swarutsav 2001 along with Taufiq Qureshi. This album is a musical interpretation of the Navarasas, the nine emotions of Indian dance. And let me take this opportunity to reiterate that its quite brilliant!

And just in case you were not aware, they’ve also composed the score for the film Dance Like A Man, featuring the amazing Shobhana. Hmmmm, my malayali genes are showing, eh? And the link will jump you to another mallu, be warned! :o)

Carnatic Chills is as impressive as Spark; while it misses out on the improvisation-magic of Spark, the production-values make up for this with great arrangement and mixing. The opening track Dance Like A Man, based on the Carnatic Raga Nattai, is a wonderful illustration of the imaginativeness that mark the compositions of Ganesh - Kumaresh; flamboyant at times, sweeping and yet deeply grounded in Carnatic classical music at all times. For instance, the aptly named Laughing Buddha, where I could imagine the strings smoking with the sheer tempo, with the definite trace of oriental in the piece. My personal favorite from this album is Flights Of Fancy, based on Raga Janaranjani, but I must add that this is only due to my fondness for the raga and all the tracks would rate well above average and nothing would score less than 3-stars.

Making Carnatic Chills an album to own, IMHO.