The Kamla Bhatt Show, Album Review >>
Ever wondered what happens once someone has achieved money & fame in their professional career? How do they spend the rest of their lives? Do they go back to their first love that they might have given up because of the pressure to be successful in corporate world? Do they re-discover what really makes them happy? Do they know the joy of doing what they love? Seems like Chandrika Tandon Krishnamurthy might be one of those few people, who kept her first love in sight and went back to it after achieving professional success.
Soul Call is an unusual music album by Chandrika, a successful management consultant turned musician. Over a span of 3 decades Chandrika carved out a successful career first at McKinsey and later as a management and investment professional. While she was building her professional career track, Chandrika managed to find time to take music lessons in classical Indian music and pursue her musical interest through her travels. As she puts it, “I was a music seeker. I found ways to learn from the greats, whenever and wherever they would teach me.”
The result of Chandrika’s musical soul searching is Soul Call that was released in 2010. An aptly named album, which is interesting and unusual. It is a fusion of traditional Indian music with a surprising dash of modern musical influences, including Middle Eastern. The album is built around the 8 syllable chant ”Om Na Mo Na Ra Ya Na,” and sung is 8 different Indian traditional ragas. Each track starts with a Sanskrit shloka or mantra and then settles into a different rendition of the 8 syllable chant. You would think the use of the same 8 syllable chant throughout the album might not work, but surprisingly it does. The last two tracks ”Basant Mukhari” that are essentially the same track stand out because of the use of Middle Eastern percussion beat. It is quite intriguing listening to Sanskrit mantra infused with modern musical sounds that uses Middle Eastern percussion.
Soul Call was also a surprise nomination for this year’s Grammy Music award in the Best Contemporary World Music Album.
I wonder who inspired Chandrika? What propelled her to learn music and keep that interest alive?
03/21/11 >> go there
