Ma De Re Sha
Author: Amardeep Dhillon
View album and artist detailsAlbum and Artist Details
Artist/band: |
Rahul Mukerji |
Label: |
Rahul Mukerji |
Magazine Review Date: |
November/2017 |
It would be easy to lump Rahul Mukerji's fusion guitar music in with the tradition of John McLaughlin, but nothing could be further from the truth. Born in India and based in the US, Mukerji has given us a debut album that's less about bridging cultural divides than it is about playing with the concept of genre. Ambitious, varied and at times full of energy, Ma De Re Sha has the feel of Indian cinematic music more so than Indian classical music.
And it is really good. The title-track ‘Ma De Re Sha’ consists of an exquisite electric guitar solo flanked by muted flute variations on the main melody and light tabla ornamentation, over simple acoustic chords. ‘Event Horizon’, building layer upon layer of acoustic strings over a light synth ambience, could easily be mistaken for Al Di Meola while the Indian classical influence makes ‘Zidd’ sound akin to Baiju Dharmajan's purer style. ‘A Path Less Travelled’ is exactly the sort of sad indie guitar music that features in TV shows about teenage heartbreak and ‘Train Ride from Siliguri’ is a modern track just waiting for a Bollywood movie about a lovestruck bachelor.
It's not quite a perfect album but, whenever the lazier prog-rock tracks begin to wear thin, they are punctuated by the unmistakeable cadences of classical Indian ornamentation on the electric guitar, or a deft tabla interlude that reintroduces some unpredictability. Mukerji is evidently still figuring out his sound, but it's the breadth of his interests and potential that makes this an exciting debut.
And it is really good. The title-track ‘Ma De Re Sha’ consists of an exquisite electric guitar solo flanked by muted flute variations on the main melody and light tabla ornamentation, over simple acoustic chords. ‘Event Horizon’, building layer upon layer of acoustic strings over a light synth ambience, could easily be mistaken for Al Di Meola while the Indian classical influence makes ‘Zidd’ sound akin to Baiju Dharmajan's purer style. ‘A Path Less Travelled’ is exactly the sort of sad indie guitar music that features in TV shows about teenage heartbreak and ‘Train Ride from Siliguri’ is a modern track just waiting for a Bollywood movie about a lovestruck bachelor.
It's not quite a perfect album but, whenever the lazier prog-rock tracks begin to wear thin, they are punctuated by the unmistakeable cadences of classical Indian ornamentation on the electric guitar, or a deft tabla interlude that reintroduces some unpredictability. Mukerji is evidently still figuring out his sound, but it's the breadth of his interests and potential that makes this an exciting debut.
