Goddess: Indian Music in Celebration of Goddesses around the World

Baluji Shrivastav’s concept album takes us on a musical explor¬ation celebrating myths surrounding female deities around the globe. With its extensive liner notes bringing us stories from India, West Africa, the Caribbean, the Far East, Hawaii and the Arctic, this CD is as much an introduction to various ways female deities are worshipped as it is to several Indian instruments that are often neglected in both recordings and live performances. Baluji’s talents as a sitarist are well known. What is perhaps less appreciated is his ability to play other instruments. Among them is the surbahar (a bass sitar), which makes its presence felt in the haunting sounds of ‘Journey to Sedna, Another is the bulbul tarang, an Indian banjo, comprising a set of drone and melody strings that Baluji employs on ‘Guan Yin’, relating to the goddess worshipped by the Buddhists and Taoists in China and South Asia. The influence of classical raga is most easily recognisable in the first track, ‘Three Goddesses’, associated with Parvati, Saraswati and Laxmi from the Hindu tradition. The raga melodies lace the music rather than present them in the traditional way. The voice of Linda Shanovitch – lingering, prayer-like and pleading – features alongside a dilruba (a long-necked fretted fiddle) in ‘Hina in Moonlight

While most of the tracks are gently paced, hypnotic and almost soporific, ‘Dance of Erzulie, an ode to the Haitian goddess of love, has a joyous folksy, airy feel. Overall however, the CD lacks the kind of depth a classically trained artist of Baluji’s stature is capable of bringing to these myths, as well-produced, interesting and easy to listen to as it is.