Trilok Gurtu - Twenty Years Of Talking Tabla [2 CD, 2007] [FLAC]

 

The 20 years referred to in the title of this 2CD collection is only the length of the Bombay-born percussionist's solo career. Gurtu was already beginning to play Indian classical tabla at the age of six, eventually opening his jazz-fusion phase by gigging with Oregon and Don Cherry. This set's subtitle blurb reads 'the serial collaborator in full flight with...', then proceeds to list a highly impressive gathering of guest artists, hailing from both jazz and global music zones.

There's always the danger, particularly with drumming leaders, to be subsumed and sidelined by your singers, guitarists and horn players, but Trilok always invites his collaborators into his own universe, retaining a strong sense of Indian classical tradition. Often this will be pleasingly filtered via a fusion with jazz, funk, soul, hip hop, African, Latin, Far Eastern or Western classical musics, but Gurtu usually tends to emerge unscathed and undiluted.

CD 1

01. Shobharock from Usfret (1987) - 7:31

02. African Fantasy (with Angelique Kidjo) from African Fantasy (1999) - 4:05

03. Have We Lost Our Dream (with Salif Keita & Sabine Kabongo) from The Beat of Love (2001) - 4:37

04. Dinki Puriya from African Fantasy (1999) - 3:01

05. Expression of Love (with Shobha Gurtu, Shankar Mahadevan & Sultan Khan) from Remembrance (2002) - 5:45

06. Water Solo previously unreleased, live in Copenhagen (2003) - 9:06

07. The Other Tune (with Joe Zawinul) from Crazy Saints (1993) - 7:41

08. Balahato from Arkeology (2006) - 4:02

09. Seven Brings Return (with Steve Lukather) from Kathak (1998) - 8:28

10. Mother Tongues (with John McLaughlin) from Live at the RFH (1989) - 4:55

CD 2

01. Dance with my Lover previously unreleased, live in Copenhagen (2003) - 6:57

02. Save Our Children (with Pharoah Sanders) from Save Our Children (1998) - 7:55

03. Big Brother (with Oumou Sangare) from African Fantasy (1999) - 4:31

04. Once I Wished A Tree Upside Down (with Jan Garbarek) from Living Magic (1991) - 8:03

05. You, Remember This from Kathak (1998) - 5:43

06. Agne Yano from Farakala (2005) - 3:37

07. Greetings (with Zakir Hussain) from Remembrance (2002) - 6:58

08. Vignola (with the Arke String Quartet) from Broken Rhythms (2003) - 6:16

09. Ganapati (with Neneh Cherry) from Kathak (1998) - 3:49

10. Planet Earth (Talvin Singh remix) from Remembrance (2002) - 6:21