"Morey Pya Bassey" with Shubha Mudgal

At a time when people from just about everywhere are making “African” records, here’s a man who began his life in Africa and went on to make records from just about everywhere.  Algerian DJ-turned conceptual composer Cheb I Sabbah has created a body of work distinguished by his willingness to go to the sources, record them himself, and then create sonic landscapes that reflect a deep sensitivity for the music’s original intent, while at the same time giving ancient sentiments a decidedly contemporary, techno twist.  For his seventh release, Sabbah returns to India—the inspirational source for his first three albums, Sri Durga (1999), Maha Maya (2000) and Krishna Lila (2002).  (From there, Sabbah turned his sights on Africa, particularly on La Kahena (2006), a terrific set of tracks created from recordings of mostly female vocalists in Morocco.)  Devotion draws upon performances by highly respected Indian vocalists—Anup Jalota, Master Saleem, Shubha Mudgal, Riffat Sultana and others—whose work channels deep spiritual traditions. 

Sabbah started out as a DJ spinning American R&B vinyl for hipsters in Paris in the 1960s.  For all his current worldliness and fascination with spirituality, his heart remains in the throbbing, dim light ambiance of the dance club.  That said, the grooves on Devotion are subtle, spacious, even gentle for the most part.  “Jai Bhavani” is a sweetly beatific kirtan, a Hindu devotional song generally involving call and response vocals.  Early on a bell seems to summon us, and the clear, soft tone of a bansuri flute threads melodiously through as the stage is set for the soft, reassuring voice of Anup Jalota.  Perhaps the most superb vocal performance here comes from another grand figure in today’s Indian classical music, this time a woman, Shubha Mudgal, whose “Morey Pya Bassey” is similarly serene.

“Koi Bole Ram Ram” picks up the pace with an gurbani, an expression of Sikh devotion featuring celebrated vocalist Rana Singh.  Another Sikh track, “Haun Vaari Haun Varaney,” sung by the lesser known Harnan Singh, works gurbani into a kind of dub reggae format.  Two qawwali tracks bring Sufi spirituality into the mix, “Kinna Sohna,” a Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan composition adapted by versatile, young Punjabi singer Master Saleem, and “Qalanderi,” sung by the mesmerizing Riffat Sultana, who descends from a royally respected classical music family in Pakistan, but now—like Sabbah—makes her home in San Francisco.  Sultana is developing her own, powerful contemporary expression of ancient arts, and she has the voice, repertoire, and creative freedom to reach a far wider audience than she has done thus far.

Of the eight pieces on Devotion, “Qalanderi” sounds closest to a conventional club track.  When Sabbah brings his music to an actual club, he supplements his mixes with live percussion and often choreographed dance, and he manipulates tempos and effects to orchestrate a mood of collective ecstasy among the patrons.  The pleasures of this CD are more quiet and internal.  The concluding, title track is a spare sonic montage of bells, chants, voices, calls—the routine expressions of three great Indian faiths, heard as only an enchanted outsider could.

Contributed by: Banning Eyre for www.afropop.org