(Sarathi Chatterjee, vocals; Peter Lerche, guitar; Paulina Lerche, accordion, kantele, vocals & e-violin; Lauri Porra, bass; Gulfam Sabri, tabla; Mikko Kaakkuriniemi, drums)
Talk about crossover! Kriya recorded their album in Finland, the songs are mostly translated from the original Sanskrit to Finnish, and the music generally sounds to me like a mix of Indian, Irish and Finnish. There are English translations printed of the lyrics, but this is another of those graphic failures where the background art or photography obscures the type and it is often unreadable. There do seem to be some connections between East Indian Sanskirt and Finnish, though I don’t know the details. Several of the songs have traditional Indian lyrics.
Some of the tracks have very compelling melodies and arrangements, and the surround mix draws one into the music. A predilection for Indian music would be a prerequisite for real enjoyment of this album. Would have liked to have known more about the gestation of this ensemble and the backgrounds of the various performers.
TrackList: Ganesha, Saalina, Hanuman, Buddha, Kain Mina, Vandee Maataram, Virsi, Champagne in Her Shoe, The Harvest, Patanjali, Jasmiinikurat.
– John Sunier
