Dawn of Paradise

Anupam Shobhakar is a New York-based Indian classical musician who plays sarod (an unfretted lute with a deeper tone than sitar) in the style known as the Maihar gharana of which legendary maestros like Ali Akbar Khan and Ravi Shankar were world famous representatives. Shobhakar, who is also a composer and record producer, began his musical life by playing left-handed guitar, inspired by the likes of Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple while also experimenting with jazz. An attraction to Indian classical music in his teens came with the realisation that the guitar had its limitations and that only the deeply resonant sarod was capable of producing all those fine microtones for which Indian music is famed.

Shobhakar's eclectic musical background is reflected in his output, with several fusion based projects including an album with Joel Harrison and some of New York's finest jazz musicians. But, on this album, he reverts to his Indian roots presenting the deeply meditative composite ‘Raga Nat Bhairav’ followed by another morning ‘Raga Miyan Ki Todi’ in both slow and fast tempo, concluding with a lighter ‘Raga Sindhu Bhairavi’. He is accompanied on tabla by the outstanding Anindo Chatterjee whose mathematical precision is admirable, raising the listening experience by more than a notch.