Taranga Audio CD – Audiobook, March 16, 2007

Prem Joshua is a multi-talented musician. He plays sitar, bansuri flute, santoor, percussion, and saxaphone to name a few. His compositions are beautiful and moving fusing traditional Indian/Islamic music and instruments with a modern tempo, basslines and synthesisers. No overdone electronics, just a beautiful, rich, multi-dimensional, organic sound. In my opinion the four Prem Joshua must-haves are " Sky Kisses Earth", "Yatri", "Taranga", and "Water Down the Ganges". If you like Indian Fusion music with an emphasis on high quality beautiful sound played with real instruments, you'll love these.

Prem Joshua is an amazing artist who plays sitar and woodwinds. this CD is great. i especially like his CD, Mudra, but that CD and everything after it are a must have including this one. CDs before Mudra (which was released in 1997 i think) are not so good.

Prem Joshua was my choice for a personal gift...I did well. I now have something like 10-15 Prem joshua cd's..enough said. Beautiful, perhaps a little more mellow this outing.

Very relaxing.

TarangaThis is the closest Prem Joshua has come to fusion groups like John McLaughlin's Shakti and some of Baluji Shrivastav's fusion recordings. Very beautiful, similar to Water down the Ganges and Sky kisses Earth. There are more vocals here than in the other two, with lead vocals by Sandhya Sanjana and Prem. Prem is joined by several Indian musicians, with Manish Vyas this time playing mainly the tabla, with the enigmatically named "Rishi" on the keyboards and also the bass and drums. The sound is very much based on the traditional instruments used in Prem Joshua's more acoustic records (mostly sitar, tabla, bamboo flute). Also again the saxophone, which Prem Joshua plays in an unusual way, nothing like what you may expect, if you have not heard him. A bit perhaps in the Jan Garbarek style. There are seven tracks: Mata Bharat is a modern "traditional" haiku-like song (called here a mantra) with a light classical feel, with subtle electronics/loops near the end - not too intrusive. Bombay Railways sounds slightly urban in an Indian way, with lyrics from a poem by a Sufi mystic, probably in Urdu. Song to Sayang has also a violin, a cello and a solo by a south Indian violin by Kumaresh, a very well-regarded musician from Tamil Nadu. It has a classical structure, other than the large assembly of musicians involved, more of an orchestra than the typical Indian classical set. Song to Seven Gods also involves a small orchestra of Indian musicians with an apparently religious theme in what I assume is Sanskrit. It builds up to a driving rhythm (jhala) with beautifully produced layers of vocals. Taranga is based on saxophone. It is "light classical" with a beautiful alap-like intro and a lovely transition into the tabla section. It is the most meditative track here, similar in feel to Dakini from Sky kisses Earth. Ranga is another light classical piece, with a matra-like song-line building into a Jahla driven by Prem Joshua's sitar. The last track is the 19-minute long raga-style Meherbani. May I say it is true Indian classical music. Mesmerizing, with Prem Joshua on the sitar (also for brief moments the bamboo flute and near the end the sax). It concludes with the words "only a lover knows what beauty is". I can only give it 5 stars.

What better way to get introduced to new music than to meet someone while travelling who has an interest in music which results in a sharing of music taste. The person in question was a young man in India who was a guide in the region of Shimla. No sooner had we started the car journey the subject turned to music. We shuffled between my iPod and his Phone each connecting to the car stereo to sample each others music tracks and albums. I liked what I heard of Prem Joshua after that introduction to this musician while driving up the mountain roads to Shima. In return I shared good old classic rock anthems with this young man who was already a heavy metal and Pink Floyd fan. A trip to remember for so many reasons. So of course upon return to the UK I had to buy a Prem Joshua album, I think its great but then I like an eclectic mix of music.

I already have Water Down the Ganges, and knew I would love this CD too. Love Prem Joshua's music and would recommend it to any one looking for unique and beautiful music.