Rhydhun

The album is the brainchild of Shyam Nepali who plays the sarangi and has composed all the tracks. The album has Rabin Karki Dhali on violin, Manose Singh and Umesh Pandit on flute, Amul Karki Dhali on soprano saxophone, Shyam Nepali, Sabu Lama and Rajani Kayastha on vocals, Kumar Maharjan on rhythm and percussions while Sabin Rizal is featured on the didgeridoo.

The title track “Rhydhun”, a fast paced fusion is remarkable for the brilliant use of a violin with solid rhythm on the didgeridoo. Latin rhythms add a festive air to the music as a whole. A combination of Indian classical and modern western vocal improvisations is added which lend weight to the composition. The music moves to trance, this time with a tabla augmenting the rhythm section. It starts with western vocals giving way to Indian classical vocal improvisation and then back to western. The accompaniment however, is quite simple. A solo on the didgeridoo is egged on by the tabla.

The album is dominated by classical vocals especially on “Om Shanti”. “Moonlight” appropriately is trance with the sarangi adding a Nepali feel. It’s a cleverly blended Nepali folk tune that has the feel of country & western reminding one of “Cotton Eyed Joe” with bits of African style vocals thrown in. It also has some inspired flute playing. This track should get a lot of airplay. “Chill Out Pulsation” is exactly what it says, “It’s party time”. You can imagine yourself at the Last Resort with not a care in the world; excellent flute improvisations.

Amul Karki is finally heard loud and clear in “Groove in-tune” where his mastery of the sax is complemented by Nepali folk and classical vocals. But this track has too much fusion going, distracting from the general feel of the album; a bit too ambitious. Playing time is long with almost all the tracks clocking more than five minutes. The strength of the album lies in the powerful rhythms and the magical improvisations. Shyam Nepali has come up with a cleverly done fusion album, which should be a great hit with the DJs.