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ASHA BHOSLE & KRONOS QUARTET
(INDIA/USA)
(INDIA/USA)
Listen to Koi Aaya Aane Bhi De
Have your sayA marriage made in heaven? That's one way to describe this extraordinary collaboration between the ubiquitous San Francisco-based string quartet and the Queen of Bollywood filmi (film music). That expression might also apply to the creative and romantic partnership between Asha Bhosle the world's most celebrated 'playback' singer and the late Rahul Dev Burman, whose songs are showcased on Kronos Quartet's 2005 album 'You've Stolen My Heart'. It's their first to ever feature a lead singer, and who better for that role than Asha Bhosle herself?
Born Asha Dinanath Mangeshkar in 1933 into what was to be the Indian subcontinent's leading popular musical dynasty, this vocal chameleon became a queen behind the screen; the voice of dozens of Indian film stars (of Bollywood and beyond) in a career now into its seventh decade. Whether she or her sister Lata Mangeshkar is the world's most recorded artist in any genre (well over 10 and perhaps more than 20,000 songs, depending on who's counting) is the subject of controversy, but Asha is arguably more famous.
Likewise, Kronos Quartet are at the top of their game. Founded in 1973 by violinist David Harrington, they're probably the world's most eclectic string quartet, having performed works by, or collaborated with, a staggering array of artists. Kronos Quartet have ranged through modern classical, avant garde, jazz, rock and world music on over 40 albums not counting guest appearances and movie soundtracks. And they're renowned for the wealth of new work they have commissioned. The diversity of their tastes is mirrored by the work of R.D. Burman, who hovered up all manner of eastern and western influences for his zany, imaginative ouvre, which hit many highs between the '70s and '90s.
'I always feel better after I hear it', Harrington told a packed crowd at London's Barbican centre during their recent concert there with Asha. A luminous apparition in a sparkling sari, the ageless diva emanated subtle charisma, the miniature curtain of pearls dangling from her bracelet emphasising each expressive gesture, which in turn matched her exquisitely precise phrase. Between songs, it was her down-to-earth humour and incredible skills as a mimic that shone through in charming anecdotes. The funniest related her amazement that only four string players could do the job of 100, the number she's more used to working with.
Jon Lusk.
(with thanks to Ken Hunt)
Born Asha Dinanath Mangeshkar in 1933 into what was to be the Indian subcontinent's leading popular musical dynasty, this vocal chameleon became a queen behind the screen; the voice of dozens of Indian film stars (of Bollywood and beyond) in a career now into its seventh decade. Whether she or her sister Lata Mangeshkar is the world's most recorded artist in any genre (well over 10 and perhaps more than 20,000 songs, depending on who's counting) is the subject of controversy, but Asha is arguably more famous.
Likewise, Kronos Quartet are at the top of their game. Founded in 1973 by violinist David Harrington, they're probably the world's most eclectic string quartet, having performed works by, or collaborated with, a staggering array of artists. Kronos Quartet have ranged through modern classical, avant garde, jazz, rock and world music on over 40 albums not counting guest appearances and movie soundtracks. And they're renowned for the wealth of new work they have commissioned. The diversity of their tastes is mirrored by the work of R.D. Burman, who hovered up all manner of eastern and western influences for his zany, imaginative ouvre, which hit many highs between the '70s and '90s.
'I always feel better after I hear it', Harrington told a packed crowd at London's Barbican centre during their recent concert there with Asha. A luminous apparition in a sparkling sari, the ageless diva emanated subtle charisma, the miniature curtain of pearls dangling from her bracelet emphasising each expressive gesture, which in turn matched her exquisitely precise phrase. Between songs, it was her down-to-earth humour and incredible skills as a mimic that shone through in charming anecdotes. The funniest related her amazement that only four string players could do the job of 100, the number she's more used to working with.
Jon Lusk.
(with thanks to Ken Hunt)
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