'Rahmania'

Doctor Rhythm's International Music Roundup for
June 2002

RAHMANIA!
is the title of the new album by London¹s Bollywood Brass Band and it is a work of genius. I can't stop playing it. I wake up with the riffs in my head and have to play it. I play it in the car, I put it on my hard drive so I can play it while I work. I guess I am having a major attack of Indian musical culture. But my interest in Bollywood seemingly has also become a national passion in the USA. This is due to the failure of the American film industry to come up with anything deeper than Spiderman (I barely noticed Danny Elfman¹s soundtrack) and people¹s reaction is, Well, we liked ³Singing in the Rain² and² Top Hat,² so let¹s check out these Indian films where the drama is interrupted for a song and dance every now and then.

One of India's great (& prolific) film composers is Alla Rakha Rahman and choice cuts from ten of his movies have been given the big brass treatment by this odd group of Brits who have had greatness thrust upon them. If they seemed a little Three-Mustapha-ish on their first outing it was because they hadn¹t quite got into character yet. While not exactly slumming in Indian brass music they were still finding their way. Their debut eponymous album from 1999 had two noteworthy features: first the entirely incongruous appearance of a Brasilian drum troupe doing some Axé riffs; secondly disco remixes of two of the songs. The stand-out track 'Gurh Nalon Ishk Mitha' had a tuba bassline reminiscent of Ray Charles 'Ain't that Peculiar?' The Bollywood Brass musicians have honed their chops in a weird mixture of influences, but on this new album they come out swinging. There¹s great melodies aplenty, serious dhol beating, and a variety of solos on the whole range of reeds and brass plus that persistent bassline played on a sousaphone!

RAHMANIA rocks. The musicians are having a blast and enjoying their solos, the whole thing held together by the dhol. The arrangements are tight, the melodies are beautiful and only occasional drift off into wetness. 'Ishq Bina' is the first ballad and avoids the H2O factor by the use of robust counter-melodies and a couple of surprises in instrumentation. A few of the melodies even have familiar rings to them: 'Main Albeli' sounds like a gypsy piece then breaks down to a wild trombone solo by Dave Jago that would impress even Don Drummond up on his cloud.

Track 5, 'Urvashi Urvashi' has rapidly become my summer theme. It even reminds me of 'Filhos do Tempo' by Didá Banda Feminina that was my top song two summers ago. It starts with what sounds like crows, then melodica, then a bassline on sousaphone. The horn chorus is quickly joined and then the Brasilian drummers crash in and the whole thing rises with the roof. The trombone toys with the melodica until Will Embliss dances in on muted trumpet. They escalate the tempo till it goes up in smoke. ³'Ramta Jogi' ('Dance of Love') starts ominously with the tolling of tubular bells and a menacing set of musical phrases. It¹s an incredibly atmospheric piece that weaves together different textures and colors on solo flugelhorn and alto sax while the sousaphone does a 'doo-wah-diddy' type vamp.

The album goes from strength to strength and only falters with the flageolet-driven ballad 'Ek tu hi bharosa' ('You are the only one I depend on') which made me think of pre-Graceland Paul Simon. Fortunately it fades out before inflicting any real pain. The last of the 'regular' tracks, 'Kismat se tum hum ko mile' ('Fate has brought us together') starts out with a Pink Floyd-like drone, then bagpipes come in with the cacophonous suggestion that hell is about to break loose. There's a weird moog-like bass thwock underpinning it and more unearthly skirling pipes with muted trumpet on echo and various other celestial things creeping about (shades of 'Atom Heart Mother'!) for five and a half minutes.
The album is not over, as there are now disco remixes of four of the tracks. These are not as successful as they could be, mainly because the sampled parts don't include much of the horns. But it certainly gives you value for money in case you just want to turn it up and shake your booty for a further twenty minutes, though the last brash mix rather sours the subtle taste of the first dozen cuts.

Clearly Bollywood Brass Band were needing the right project to come along, and this is it. It's a shining example of cross-cultural ideas at work. The members bring in their own jazz, pop and classical influences to the work of a composer who knows how to adapt an orchestra to establish moods and paint colors with sounds. There¹s so much creativity and ingenuity here, it¹s a real treat to unravel and explore all the musical directions it takes.

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