Into the Light (Music Today)
This is an excellent fusion of Carnatic classical melodies with Western musical idioms. U. Rajesh is the brother of the legendary Mandolin U. Shrinivas, and has performed to critical acclaim around the world. On this fusion album he is accompanied by classical pianist Anil Srinivasan, and they have jammed with Bikram Ghosh and Pete Lockett as well in other releases.
Among the 8 tracks, the pieces “Shadows,” “Saraswati” and “Devi” really stand out. Rajesh was the youngest participant of the Magic Mandolin Festival in Germany and one of his performances was voted among the year’s best by ‘New Yorker’ magazine.
Author: Madanmohan Rao
Madanmohan Rao is an author and media consultant from Bangalore, and global correspondent for world music and jazz for World Music Central and Jazzuality. He has written over 15 books on media, management and culture, and is research director for YourStory Media. Madan was formerly World Music Editor at Rave magazine and RJ at WorldSpace, and can be followed on Twitter at @MadanRao.
