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Talvin Singh | Ha

CD, Universal Island

Tekst: Bas Ickenroth

Publicatiedatum: 15 mei 2001

To me, Talvin Singh's first record OK was the highlight of 1998, an album where he showed many skills and influences. His mixture of drum'n'bass and dance on one side and (mostly Indian) worldmusic on the other still sounds very impressive to me, although I can understand the criticism of some people who found the album too full and too eclectic, that Talvin Singh wanted and did too much. Well, this is not the case on HA. Singh sounds a lot more focused rsulting in a record which is much easier to listen to than OK. He doesn't put as much influences as possible in one song anymore, but merely takes a few ideas which he then develops entirely The endresult is often drony and hypnotic, and the force of repetition and Indian melodies creates an addictive trance. Singh not only combines Indian influences with his programmed beats (which combine stunningly well with his amazing tabla percussion), also north-African, middle-eastern and dub influences come to surface. Especially the dub/tabla mixture of the perfectly titled Dubla is so good that one wonders wether Jamaica is a hidden province in India. Sometimes the music meanders a little bit too much into lounge territory to my taste ("It's not over"), but most of the time the music holds enough tension to capture your attention completely. On OK the uptempo were the better songs, and that's not different on HA. The programmed almost-drum'n'bass beats combine superb with the tablas, and when this is combined with such pretty (female) Indian vocals "See Breeze", it comes close to perfection. And the fact that the closing track "Silver Flowers" sounds like the Indian incarnation of a David Sylvian song with female vocals, makes this an album that almost reaches the extreme highs of its predecessor.

http://www.kindamuzik.net/recensie/talvin-singh/ha/717/
Meer Talvin Singh op KindaMuzik: http://www.kindamuzik.net/artiest/talvin-singh