‘Vivid’, also released on 2ndSight Records, is a collaborative production with Najma and film composer Richard Grassby-Lewis. It differs from her previous styles of using jazz arrangements by blending more tabla mixes and trance beats, electronic music styles such as drum and bass and sampling. It incorporates Arabic and Indian music with Western classical arrangements leaning towards a more atmospheric studio based sampled album. ‘Vivid’ investigates the dark moodiness and mysteriousness of the Indian underground theme and comes out in a genre of its own. ‘Indian Gothic’
It’s a name that fits perfectly; like gothic art and architecture, the album is complex, graceful and magical. Sung sometimes in English, sometimes in Urdu, its songs evoke moods full of longing, regret, escape and confrontation, yet somehow retains a spirit of hope. Crystalline incantations that touch upon the divine to reveal harmony and seduction through the power of voice and lyrics and so Najma continues to sing of the nostalgia of lost, unrequited or forbidden love in the style of Ghazal, Thumri and Geet, but in a completely new and unique style.
"Vocally, Najma incorporates haunting vocals that quiver with crystalline complexity. Overall, the musical complexities and vocal acrobatics of Najma should convince even the most discriminating listener to pick up a copy of Vivid."
Mathew J Forss, Inside World Music
“Since Najma Akhtar released her ground-breaking fusion album Qareeb in the late 1980s, the sounds of the Indian sub-continent have become a steadily more familiar fixture in western pop. Mixes of tablas and trance beats, Bollywood strings and synths, is now part of the musical landscape. The pure, soaring arc of Najma's voice remains beyond emulation, however, Vivid provides her vocal talents with their most adventurous settings yet, twisting together the traditions of east and west in new and unexpected ways, marrying Arabic rhythms, modal tunings, and western classical leanings. The record results from collaboration between Najma, who wrote its lyrics and melodies, and Richard Grassby-Lewis, whose background in film music is evident in Vivid's cinematic atmospheres. Both are artists whose grasp of music is global. Searching for a tag to describe their distinctive sound, Najma and Richard alighted on "Indian Gothic". It's a name, which fits perfectly; like gothic art and architecture, the album is complex, graceful and magical. Sung sometimes in English, sometimes in Urdu, its' songs evoke moods full of longing, regret, escape and confrontation; yet somehow retain a spirit of hope. Vivid is twenty-first century gothic."
Neil Spencer (The Observer)
...more
‘Vivid’, also released on 2ndSight Records, is a collaborative production with Najma and film composer Richard Grassby-Lewis. It differs from her previous styles of using jazz arrangements by blending more tabla mixes and trance beats, electronic music styles such as drum and bass and sampling. It incorporates Arabic and Indian music with Western classical arrangements leaning towards a more atmospheric studio based sampled album. ‘Vivid’ investigates the dark moodiness and mysteriousness of the Indian underground theme and comes out in a genre of its own. ‘Indian Gothic’
It’s a name that fits perfectly; like gothic art and architecture, the album is complex, graceful and magical. Sung sometimes in English, sometimes in Urdu, its songs evoke moods full of longing, regret, escape and confrontation, yet somehow retains a spirit of hope. Crystalline incantations that touch upon the divine to reveal harmony and seduction through the power of voice and lyrics and so Najma continues to sing of the nostalgia of lost, unrequited or forbidden love in the style of Ghazal, Thumri and Geet, but in a completely new and unique style.
"Vocally, Najma incorporates haunting vocals that quiver with crystalline complexity. Overall, the musical complexities and vocal acrobatics of Najma should convince even the most discriminating listener to pick up a copy of Vivid."
Mathew J Forss, Inside World Music
“Since Najma Akhtar released her ground-breaking fusion album Qareeb in the late 1980s, the sounds of the Indian sub-continent have become a steadily more familiar fixture in western pop. Mixes of tablas and trance beats, Bollywood strings and synths, is now part of the musical landscape. The pure, soaring arc of Najma's voice remains beyond emulation, however, Vivid provides her vocal talents with their most adventurous settings yet, twisting together the traditions of east and west in new and unexpected ways, marrying Arabic rhythms, modal tunings, and western classical leanings. The record results from collaboration between Najma, who wrote its lyrics and melodies, and Richard Grassby-Lewis, whose background in film music is evident in Vivid's cinematic atmospheres. Both are artists whose grasp of music is global. Searching for a tag to describe their distinctive sound, Najma and Richard alighted on "Indian Gothic". It's a name, which fits perfectly; like gothic art and architecture, the album is complex, graceful and magical. Sung sometimes in English, sometimes in Urdu, its' songs evoke moods full of longing, regret, escape and confrontation; yet somehow retain a spirit of hope. Vivid is twenty-first century gothic."
Neil Spencer (The Observer)
Renowned vocalist takes us down The Ganges, Niger, Thames, Shannon, Mississippi with ‘Five Rivers’. Exploring synergies
between the ancient poetic art form of the Indian Ghazal and Western song traditions.
CollaboratIons with world-class artists, diverse as Jah Wobble, Jimmy Page & Robert Plant, Andy Summers, Basement Jaxx, Jethro Tull, Philip Glass, Gary Lucas (Captain Beefheart) and more....more
Connecting with local musicians, Swedish musician Karl-Jonas Winqvist combines traditional Sengalese sounds with daring experimentation. Bandcamp Album of the Day Mar 2, 2021
