worlddiscoveries.net, CD Review >>
For decades the Indian movie industry known as Bollywood has turned out hundreds of romantic musicals starring a succession of fresh-faced young stars, all of whom pretend to sing while in actuality seasoned veterans like Asha Bhosle (now a grandmother) do the actual singing. it amazes me as well as others that Asha can still sing the role of a young maiden and sound wonderfully convincing doing it - Asha has been doing this work since the age of ten. Recording artists around the world line up to record with her.
LOVE SUPREME consists of two discs and is all Ghazals: that unique musical form so popular in India and Pakistan. Ghazals can be spiritual or earthly romantic or a combination: this concept is hard for Westerners to understand, but once they hear them, they learn to love them. The arrangements for these Ghazals are surprisingly modern: electric guitars, synthesizers, drum effects, the whole bit - blended with occasional traditional Indian instruments.
Listen to Asha's baby doll voice play with the melody lines - wow! Frank Sinatra was never that good at 73 years old - before Asha, who was?
Disc Two consists of romantic duets between Asha and a succession of male vocalists. These songs are taken from Bollywood films so sometimes the sound is not the best, as the traditional way of recording in 'Bollywood' is to turn the sliders or pots on the recording equipment all the way up, creating a fuzzy sound that sounds exciting on the cheap portable stereo so popular throughout India and neighboring lands, but sounds somewhat irritating to Western ears used to listening to music on better equipment in their homes. But no matter: whenever Asha's angelic voice comes in, the listener is transported to heaven.
I've loved Asha Bhosle's voice for well over thirty years: to have so much of it in one package is most welcome to say the least.
If Asha Bhosle is still recording at age 90, her voice will probably still have the power to tear your heart out.
06/26/06 >> go there
