irish melodies and indian raagas

Off the Hook was born during a recording session in May 98. Nikhil had the inspiration for the melody and Uday’s backing was pure serendipity. There’s a fascinating interplay between the 8-beat phrases of Over the Ocean and the 6-beat Taal from Off the Hook.

Inisheer is an island off the County Clare in Ireland. We were considering spelling it “Innershear” because the melody moves feelings around inside people. Many, many thanks to Amanda for the beautiful Irish flute used to play this melody. Nikhil’s steel string guitar leads a transition into Raag Bhoopali.

Cooley's reel fuses tabla and tin whistle. It’s interesting that both instruments are ubiquitous in their respective traditions.

Nikhil heard Iho on a tape, but couldn’t find the tape. His version was in 9 beat and 21 beat phrases. We thought he’d added his own touch to get such an unusual structure. Sudarshan enjoyed the rhythmic challenge. Two weeks after recording we found the tape. The original song was in 9 and 22 beat phrases!

The Bhirav piece starts with Sawaal Jawaab (question and answer). The instruments exchange ideas and build the mood. This structure is taken from Hindustani classical music. The rest of the song continues in a similar spirit, moving from one ephemeral idea to the next. Uday plays the metamorphosis into the Butterfly – a traditional Irish tune. He sneaks in some Spanish influence. We finish with Drowsy Maggie, another favorite Irish traditional tune.

Lark in the Morning is a tune brought into the limelight by Celtic/jazz fusion group ‘Moving Hearts’. It’s a chance to improvise and have some fun with the Djambe (African drum).

Uday, on classical guitar, achieves the beautiful effect of a Celtic harp while Ethan plays Huntingtone Castle on treble recorder. Tabla melts into this mix in a way that continually amazes us. Uday and Nikhil build Raag Yaman, the nighttime Raag. The interplay of guitars creates a dreamworld. A folk tune in Raag Yaman leads deeper into the dream. We wanted this song last on the album so we could fall asleep to it!