Mondo Rama

Album Review

Jai Uttal's eclectic, joyfully scattered East-meets-West visions embrace a rich variety of cultures and traditions. Intrigued by ancient music, he learned his craft from India's national living treasure, Ali Akbar Khan. Forging a bridge between continents and time, Uttal adds his love of contemporary electric rock, reggae, and even Motown to create dynamic chant in a Western groove. What he and his chanting vocal/percussion orchestra have created is a hip worldbeat-meets-new age collection which will go over with the trendy yoga set. A romantic, French-flavored accordion introduces "Naragaya," which features Uttal's guttural vocals leading a choir in an unspecified, African-sounding language; the hypnotic effect is clear, but it gets a bit repetitive after a few minutes. The whimsical Indian-sitar-meets-bluesy-organ-driven "Shri Krishna" is something George Harrison would have appreciated (despite its unnecessary, spacy R2D2-like sounds), and Uttal pays tribute to the late Beatle with an appropriately mystical rendering of "Tomorrow Never Knows." Culture-hopping is Uttal's great joy, as "Exile" sounds like Bob Marley boppin' on the streets of Calcutta, while the next track, "Shalom," is a folkloric dreamscape sung lovingly in Hebrew. Uttal sometimes tries a bit too hard to blend ancient and modern sensibilities, but techno-lovers might enjoy "The Whisper Stream," which runs like a stream-of-consciousness piece, balancing sitar improvisation with electronic percussion. "Kali Mata" sounds like an Eastern worship tune with modern rock edges. Ambitious and unpredictable, Uttal's experience is all about enjoying the journey and its unpredictable destinations.